


The Signs that Yondu Cares

by OMEGA1979



Series: The Signs that Yondu cares [1]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy - All Media Types
Genre: Beating, Child Abuse, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-16
Updated: 2014-11-23
Packaged: 2018-02-21 10:47:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 29,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2465471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OMEGA1979/pseuds/OMEGA1979
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Who will take care of Peter when he falls ill. Or does no one care at all</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

So after seeing the film for the third time, I got inspired to write this. Hope you all like it.

The signs that Yondu cares

Peter work up amidst the signs of sleep all around him from the rest of the Ravagers. As always his chest hurt, but this time it hurt more than normal. Rolling into a sitting position, he gasped in pain, an action that caused a few around him to twitch. Peter was immediately worried, even though most were passed out in beds or strewn about on the floor, but he knew if he disturbed their sleep he would pay for it dearly.

Peter gripped his head, as the thundering pain rang through him; he knew he was sick, he had been feeling sick for days. A settlement he hadn't shared with Yondu or anyone else, otherwise they'd call him "weak or a sissy", or any other words in that not too extensive vocabulary they possessed.

Finally noticing the sweat dripping down his brow, and how wet and twisted the sheets were, he figured out his temperature was high, but he couldn't tell how high. If his mom were here, she would be at his bedside with a thermometer and hot soup, but she was gone. Even after six months on the ship, the thought still made him cry some nights causing his pillow to become wet with tears and more punishment from the Ravagers. Peter had already accepted he was all alone in a harsh cold Universe and he would never see Earth or his family ever again.

At this point, he expected to be reunited with his father living the life of whoever his father was. But as they approached, wherever he was meant to be going. Yondu had ordered the ship turned around, and told the still crying boy, who still manages to produce tears after two months on the ship, that he was going to keep him…and if he screwed that up he was going to eat him! Peter still took that threat seriously he knew Yondu could be capable of it, if not one of the men would happily do it. In the 6 months as he tried to get his head around the concept he had nowhere else to go.

He had tried to listen, to learn everything to do everything right, even if his duties were only basic chores like scrubbing the deck and doing the laundry…even though he did his best, washing the clothes, until his hands were red and raw it was never enough. Peter knew he had to do well; the threat of it was one of the things keeping him up at night even though right now it was his head and shaking body. As he got to his feet, deciding to get some water from the mess hall. He quickly grabbed his t-shirt and gasped as he pulled it over his head. He felt raw and sore, but had no one to tell it too.

Stepping past the Ravagers, as carefully as he could with his bare feet feeling good on the cold metallic deck, he silently as he could he made his way to the mess hall, as the pain in his head increased to a roar. Gripping both sides of his head, as the word suddenly tilted and resisting the urge to cry out he was relieved to find he was all alone. The mess hall was the one area that Yondu always insisted be kept clean since every one of the crew used it and Peter had inherited the responsibility of keeping it clean. He had no desire to wind up one day in one of the pots which no doubt contained the breakfast, lunch and dinner. Food on the ship was disgusting, and Peter could count on one hand the times he had managed to finish an entire meal.

He had noticed how skinny he was becoming, but no one else of the ship had noticed, or could be bothered to notice. As he finally entered the mess, the few minute walk that seemed to take forever, he almost threw up at the acrid smell of the kitchen, it had been scrubbed to perfection, but the smell of the dozens of men just lingered in the air and felt like it was choking him. In the half-light, with his hands and probably body shaking he set to work trying to find some water, suddenly scared that if he activated the light it would wake someone up and he'd had to deal with their wrath as well as everything else.

His eyes burnt in pain as he tried desperately to find a glass if he could find a glass he could get water if he had water he would feel better. That was normal, normal people drank water, normal people didn't live on starships in deep space, normal people had families and parents and even he didn't have that anymore. His mind a myriad of feelings and fears, pains and exhaustion he barely noticed the moment his brain short-circuited and he fell to the cold deck with a thud.

Lying there before everything gave way to oblivion; he closed his eyes and wished he was dead. There was no one to take care of him, he was 8 years old and going to die on a deck in deep space as finally and mercifully he passed out completely.

To be continued

Please review xx


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Yondu Udonta was sitting in his chair, looking at the stars waiting for the rest of the crew to file in. As always he had forgone breakfast that morning, so he had no idea what had transpired until his first mate Kraglin put his head round the door to declare that the "Kid was sick".

Yondu could only roll his eyes at that statement, in the past 6 months he had been stuck with the boy; he was either trying to hide or sobbing about his "mommy". "Fine, just tell him to get to bed and sort himself out." He decreed, in a bored tone.

"No, I mean he's really sick, he's passed out in the mess."

Since Kraglin was perhaps the only person who could counter his comment in any way, anyone else he would have killed long ago. Yondu got to his feet and followed his first mate. "I swear to whatever god Kraglin, if it's just a sniffle I'm going to punish you both" he declared and turned the corner into the mess. There admits the men standing, he could see the boy lying on the deck, the sweat dripping onto the metal leaving a small pool around him, everyone one of the crew was taking it in turns to nudge the unconscious boy with their hobnailed boots, leaving bruises that were beginning to develop on his pale skin. As they saw the Captain, they immediately parted, and from the look on their faces expected Yondu to join in.

Yondu wasn't in the mood, he had charts to sort out and a scavenging mission to plan, as he bent his head over the boy and yelled in his ear "You get up now, you hear me?" There was nothing from the boy, no emotion on Peter's face to show he had even heard the Captain. As an exasperated Yondu leaned closer "I'm telling you now boy, get your ass up now". Again there was nothing, for a few moments, as finally Peter opened his mouth and a small thin gasp filtered across the deck.

The was the only response from the boy, as Yondu truly sick of this grabbed the boy from the deck, holding him under his arm, as the boys limbs dangled in the air, he motioned Kraglin to follow him as they walked the deck in the direction of the med bay. This rough action, providing no reaction from Peter, who was just hanging there like a limp rag. As they stepped into the med bay, Yondu aggressively shoved the boy onto the bed which finally produced a small moan from the boy. "Kraglin, fix him up." He ordered his crew man as he made his way to leave.

"Fix him…he's not my responsibility to fix, Yondu"

"Do I look like I give a shit; I've given you an order…so fix the damn kid".

The elevation in Yondu's tone produced another slight movement from the boy, whose eyelids began to flicker.

Still hearing, Kraglin complaining that he wasn't a damn nursemaid, Yondu knew he would follow instructions to the letter, everyone on the ship knew that. As Yondu walked back to the bridge thoroughly pissed at the interruption. The scavenger mission on the outer rims, would be difficult but promised riches. It had taken ages to plot this territory; to stay the hell away from the Kree's who were encroaching everywhere. And now it was all going ahead, everyone knew the importance of this, so the last thing he needed was interruption.

He got it, three hours later when he heard Kraglin voice over the intercom. "Yondu, we need you down here, we've got a problem."

Yondu knew exactly what that "problem" was…that damn kid. Ever since he had arrived on the ship, crying like a baby, demanding to be taken home. He had been one problem after another. In the end, Yondu had made it clear, that threat of being eaten had finally managed to get him to shut up, to become invisible...which what was exactly Yondu wanted. Hell if he's had taken him to his planet, who knew what sort of life he'd be leading.

Yondu knew he was doing the kid a favour by keeping him, even if it was an open secret no one on the crew thought so. Summoning Yarovesky to keep his seat warm, and deciding to keep his bitching to himself. He made his way back to the med bay. Feeling more irritated with each step, as he made it to his destination, he was greeted with the sight of Peter lying raised up on the table, semi-conscious and his face a mask of death.

With his t-shirt having been removed, Yondu could see the extent of the bruises on the boy's pale skin and could see his rib beginning to protrude through his chest. The boy's weak desperate gasps for air, for some reason managed to produce an echo in the room in line with the heart monitor, which didn't sound as strong as it should be, from what Yondu knew about human physiology...which wasn't much. It was a sound that Yondu didn't like as he turned to his first mate "So what the hell is wrong with him?"

"He's got a punctured lung, there are fractures all over his body, and there some sort of virus in his brain "Read out Kraglin in a matter of fact voice, another of the reasons he had been Yondu's first mate for so long.

"What sort of virus." Queried Yondu, already sick of the sight of the boy that was causing him so much trouble. And how the hell did he have fractures on his body, it was no secret the Revengers roughhoused him, it was expected…almost encouraged. If he was going to be a Ravager, he had to be tough, everyone knew that. How frail were these stupid human bodies...didn't his father's DNA filter in him somewhere?

"The computer translated it as fungal meningitis; it means that his brain is sick". As Kraglin read out the symptoms, and mentioned something about membranes in the brain that were attacking his spine.

"So can you treat him?" Yondu had a feeling he wasn't going to like where this conversation was heading.

"No, not here he needs specialist healers…or he's just going to die…but look at this".

Kraglin picked up a glass, stepped over and pressed it to Peter's am, the coldness on his skin caused the boy to suddenly jerk, but he seemed incapable of saying anything as Yondu saw the spotty rash under the glass.

"So…the boy's going to die." Yondu should have felt relief since the boy's mere presence was a constant thorn in his side as Kraglin nodded in the affirmative.

Yondu cursed, under his breath, this was the last thing he needed, they were too far out in space and now this, as Kraglin said aloud what Yondu was beginning to think.

"That asshole of a father of his is still contacting us, the last time you told him he was refusing to leave…what do you think he will do when he finds out the kids dead?"

"Shut up, Kraglin and let me think." Yondu demanded as he kept his eyes on the boy. Damn that stupid kid, he knew if the kid died it would be all over for him and his crew, one of the reasons he was talking missions so far in the outer rims was that he was avoiding his father's planet and its people. The one thing he had never voiced out loud, but everyone knew it…but he pretty much dared any member of his crew even Kraglin to say it to his face.

Whist Yondu was thinking of his next move both of them turned their heads as the Peter made a futile gasp for air, and leaned forward as Yondu could see the coughing spasm in his chest.

"Ah hell." Uttered Kraglin as he dived for the bed, grabbing a bowl that was within his grasp, and held it under the boy neck, as the pathetic kid threw up the blood that had been collecting somewhere in his body that wasn't meant to be there.

Peter glanced up at Kraglin, who had the good grace to whip the boy's face with a rag, as Peter's eyes rolled in the back of his head and he slumped back against the bed.

"Shit." Muttered Kraglin, as he dumped the blood filled bowl on the shelf. "If we don't get him somewhere soon, he's going to be dead in…".

The last word was left unfinished as the sound of the monitor began to beep widely…it was the sound of Peter flat lining.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Both of them were silent, as the beep of the machine seemed to grow in volume, or maybe that was in Yondu's head, he really wasn't sure. Kraglin immediately dashed over to the bed, and began to administer the electric shock treatments which were built into the bed. It had brought many of the crew back from the dead, and now it seemed to be the only thing that would work on Peter. As Yondu watched the boy twist on the bed every few seconds, there was still nothing, just his vital signs reading non-existent, and his body a lump of dead flesh.

Yondu knew he had to act quickly and cursing the boys existence in his mind, he stepped over to the bed, pushing Kraglin back, as with something that had been tried and tested on Revengers for years. As he balled his hand into a fist, and checking where the boys most important organ were on the bio scanner, drove his fist straight into Peter's heart.

Both of them watched as the vibration from the impact seemed to travel through his body, as with the beeping beginning to annoy him continued his act, pounding his fist over and over again, fully aware that the sound of the boys ribs cracking were becoming audible over the sound of the machines. But Yondu didn't care if this could make it worse, the boy was dead how much worse could it get?

For a full minute Yondu continued the abuse, noticing the look of distaste on Kraglin's face, fully prepared to call it, as suddenly a low strangled sound began to emerge from Peter's mouth, followed by the blood that had begun to seep down his nose. Almost immediately, his heart rate began to climb, it wasn't perfect it wasn't even near perfect, but it was enough, he was still alive.

Peter took another gasp of air, enough air that he could as Kraglin noticed aloud, even though Yondu had figured it out already, that his ribs were now shattered from the impact. Both of them knew he wouldn't last long, hours if he was lucky as both men passed a look of understanding between them, and Yondu, even though he was feeling pissed off beyond belief made his decision. "Get him stabilised and find me a healer, there has to be one in this area somewhere."

"Find him a damn healer, Yondu…what about the mission"

"Well, now consider yourself in charge of the thing…it's not as if you're going to screw it up are you?" The threating tone in Yondu's voice was an understanding to Kraglin, who could only nod as Yondu left the Med bay and made his way to the bridge. This one simple thing and that one stupid boy had managed to screw everything up…and he wasn't even awake for it.

On the bridge, Yondu quickly checked the plan for the mission. Fine they would lose one of the ships, deliberately deciding to use one of the orange and blue ships, they would be faster than Yondu's s own M-Ship which was going to trust with Kraglin. He knew he could trust Kraglin not to damage it, besides the mechanic had built the thing, he knew how to handle it and use it if they were attacked.

The loss of Yondu meant that he had to trust everything to Kraglin, which was easy. Kraglin had done dozens of missions and was the only member of the crew with a low death rate when he was in charge besides Yondu. Not that Yondu gave two shits about loss of life, but a new crew was a bastard to train.

As he readjusted the mission plan, he was interrupted by another summons from Kraglin, this time his tone as natural as possible. He had either found someone or in his absence the kid had shuffled off the mortal coil. Stepping back to the Med bay, he saw Kraglin overlooking some details on the scanner, which he passed to his Captain.

"I've found a place, under the nose of everyone, used by criminals and they'd keep quiet for the right price…it's only seven hours away"

"Fine, where is it?" Demanded Yondu, not bothering to look that deeply, he was fully aware of the boy still lying on the table, gasping for life but tried to ignore it.

This time it was Kraglin's turn to look away "It's on Knowhere".

Yondu ran his hands over his face; of course, it would be, as he looked past Kraglin and to be boy. He was going to die, that was matter of fact, as Yondu turned away from Kraglin and poked his head from around the Med bay door, he had already seen the crew pretty much hanging around the door, but trying and failing not to make it obvious, no doubt a betting pool would have already began on seeing how long the boy lasted, and caught the attention of Horuz.

"You, get a ship prepped now."

Horuz looked confused, well the bastard wasn't exactly known for his brains since if the crew were trying to be sly at keeping an eye on the med bay this idiot was standing right in the middle of the deck.

"Your ship?" questioned Horuz

"No, just a ship…and do it now." Barked Yondu as Horuz quickly hurried down the deck to fulfil the Captains order, as he turned back to Kraglin, who was in the process of sitting Peter up to place his t-shirt back on his body. Yondu couldn't help but notice that the skinny like shit had undergone a growth spurt recently, and even though it hung off his body was looking too small for him, as Peter moaned softly from the pain that was clearly running through his body.

"Yondu." Kraglin, still with his back to him, as he tried to force Peter to keep his head up. "There are healers on this ship, ok so they may be inept ones…but why the hell did you choose me to ty to sort this kid out?"

"Because apparently you're the only one on this ship not to have used him as a punching bag ," Yondu said, by way of explanation, and it was the only explanation he needed to say, if he needed at all. He also knew Kraglin was so loyal he trusted no other to treat him, because no one else would have bothered to save him at all.

The answer that Kraglin heard seemed to satisfy him, as he began to wrap Peter up in a blanket, leaving only the small boys head exposed. As he went to pick up Peter, Yondu instead stepped past him, and pick up the bedraggled boy himself, which caused an eye raise from Kraglin but no comment.

As Peter settled into Yondu's arms, being held like he was a baby, he moaned at this sudden movement but never opened his eyes. Yondu with Kraglin following him stepped form the Med bay, but even though all eyes were on him courtesy of his crew no one said a word, and he couldn't be bothered to address them. He was going to let Kraglin do that, to let them know that this mission would be going ahead without him, thanks to the damn kid in his arms.

Walking down the deck, Yondu had a sudden thought "Bring that damn backpack of his, would ya?" Yondu had a feeling that this could be expensive, and there was the possibility that there was something valuable in that bag, something they could sell. That would teach him a lesson, to pay for this they could sell all of those little trinkets that the boy loved. Yondu really should have thought of that earlier. The only reason he had let Peter keep his stuff was to stop his persistent crying.

Stepping into the hanger, and selecting the M-Ship he would be using Yondu stepped onto the ship, and unceremoniously dumped Peter in one of the chairs, the boy whimpered softly but remained silent as Kraglin dropped Peter's bag next to him and set in the coordinates and directions for the medical centre without Yondu having to prompt him. With everything set, Kraglin made his way to leave, as Yondu slid into the pilot's chair. "Kraglin," he said, never bothering to turn round to look at his first mate "Do not screw up this mission and anyone who does…just kill them".

Kraglin stated in the affirmative, as the ship door closed behind them and the hanger doors opened, a minute later revealing deep space before him.

Yondu took one look as the motionless kid that was causing all this aggravation, as he turned up the speed. If he was going to get this little shit to Knowhere, he wanted it to be as quick as possible. As he departed the hanger of the Ecector, and into deep space.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

As he traversed Space, Yondu couldn't fault the irony that Peter had finally gone out on a ship, and he was too unconscious to realise it.

As soon as Yondu has announced to the kid was going to be Revenger, to the shock and dismay of the rest of the crew, Yondu decided to give the kid a grand tour of the place, In the last two months he had mainly kept to his cell, out of harm's way. Back then he was cargo and precious cargo.

As a Revenger, he was no one special, and it was good that the kid recognised that as soon as possible. At the time, the kid was too quiet, as he was shown the bunker and barracks and what he job now entailed. It made Yondu think that his universal translator was broken. He remembered how it took a while for them to realise that he was unable to speak their language, so installed in him a universal translator.

How he had screamed in pure abject terror as they were drilling the holes in his neck so the wires could trap around his nerves, Yondu as he held the boy's head, whilst Kraglin produced the drill and still had no idea of what the boy was so scared of.

It was the moment they crossed the flight deck, that the first flicker of interest, something that wasn't fear crossed the boys face as the saw the ships lined up in the hanger, the maintenance crews having heard of their new crewmate and were all giving him stares, something Yondu realised that he boy didn't notice.

"Am I going to learn to fly?" He had asked, straight away as he looked at the ships. "Why are you planning on running away, boy?" Yondu addressed him in a harsher tone. "If you think I'm going to tell you how to fly a ship, then you're mistaken about that.

Peter had swallowed the words without question, but Yondu had noticed that the boy's interest had been sparked, and even since then, as he completed his cleaning he took time around the hangers, his face pressed against the glass as they took off. He knew the boy had interest, the look on his face as the men were discussing the raids and missions, trying to soak up every bit of information that he could, he really had nothing else to do since his life was so basic.

Yondu snapped out of the memory and glanced over to the boy still motionless in the chair, Yondu could still hear his faint gasps of breath as they continued on their journey, and checked the times they would be getting into Knowhere. There were still hours to go, more hours with this stupid kid that he was stuck with.

Entering an asteroid field, which wasn't recommended for anyone, but a short cut was a short cut, and Yondu was an old pro at this, The Centaurian took his eyes off the boy as he was piloting smoothly through the field. A left over from when two moons had collided when the universe was still young.

Moving his craft, with the grace of a ballet dancer, he was suddenly distracted by twitching in the chair next to him, Pulling his gaze over, there was Peter still unconscious, but moving widely deep in the throes of a seizure.

Yondu pulled the ship to a halt, and grabbed the boy from the chair, he had no idea what was going on in that boy's brain of his, but he knew what to do about this. Picking up the twitching boy, as he laid him out on the deck, the boy slipped out of his grasp and he hit the dead head first, from several inches. Peter was too trapped in his own mind, to even noticed another blow to his body as Yondu stepped away, so the boy had room to finish his seizure and had noticed how cold and clammy the boy was when he was in Yondu's arms.

Yondu, knowing he had to get through the asteroids slid back into his seat, and tried to focus on the stars, He knew that seizures could last hours, he remembered when his crew had been stuck with Laban fever and it had let to hours of this.

Hearing the sounds of the boys limbs quieting on the deck, which occurred thirty minutes later as Yondu was coming out of the field and back into deep space, he finally found the moment to glance down at the boy, spread all over the deck thoroughly undignified, his head had turned to his side, but his body was flat and motionless.

As expected his breath was still coming out in small bursts, as if desperately hanging on to whatever life he had left, but it was his eyes that disturbed Yondu the most. For some reason the boys, green eyes had snapped open and were staring directly into Yondu, the eyes he had inherited from his father were glazed over. With no sign of life behind them...yet was staring straight ahead, and seemed to be staring straight into his soul.

The sight of the boy's face, suddenly made Yondu feel uncomfortable, as he tore his gaze away and increased speed. In the last two hours to get to Knowhere, the boy managed to fit three more times, but never regained conciseness or showed any sign of life behind those eyes.

Yondu docked and prepared to open the pilot doors, he managed to pull Peter up from his sanctuary on the floor, the boys limbs were floppy but for some reason seemed difficult to negotiate in Yondu's arms. Eventually, Yondu got the hang of holding the sweating, sick boy as well as his precious bag and he finally stepped onto the terrain.

As always, Knowhere existed in a world of total night, and total chaos. Checking the directions Kraglin had given him, he stepped off through the back alleys, having to hold on tighter to Peter as he felt more of his bones cracking through the blanket. If they were already broken or Yondu was doing it, he really wasn't sure. None of the noises, jostling or stepping aside for people when he really wanted to put a blaster to their faces made a single impact on the boy. He did notice some giving him a disdainful look, a Centaurian holding a human child would do that for anyone, but no one would get involved. There were no laws on Knowhere after all…that's what made it perfect.

Coming to the Healers Centre, it looked perfect just enough out of the way so people would just walk past it, and near to the ship if Yondu needed to get away quickly as he stepped through the door.

From the sight of the Healers, all pink-skinned Kree, their mouths dropped slightly at the Centurian holding the boy as they tried to take in the image as Peter made the feeble gasps for air.

"I've got a sick kid here...are you going to fix him or not?" Yondu demanded, asserting his authority, as one of the Healers came over, took one look at Peter whilst never managing to meet Yondu's eyes and immediately motioned for more to join them, as both Peter and Yondu were directed into a side room. A female healer ordered Yondu to place the boy down on the diagnostic table. The place was more high tech then anything they had on his own ship as Peter moaned slightly as his body hit the cold steel.

"Hummmm," the Healer said as Quill's bio signs were read immediately and began to leap across holograms in the room "Terran male...don't see many of them these days. Ten broken bones, ribs, punctured lung, build-up of pressure in his brain". Her tone was accusing, and Yondu knew exactly what she was getting at. "It wasn't me; the boy came to me like this." It was a lie, but Yondu was good at them, and even though it was natural...it wasn't convincing to the Healer who had heard all of this before.

"He's also suffering from malnutrition, his internal organs are beginning to fail and he's suffering from fungal meningitis…which should have killed him already. Bit of a fighter this one…how old is he…about six?"

"He's eight." Confirmed Yondu, who was already aware of how the boy looked to how he should be looking.

"Then someone's been putting this kid through some shit haven't they" The tone was still accusing, which was beginning to get under Yondu's skin as she continued "The body is healable, the brain however."

She motioned in the air, which revealed a close-up of the kids small Terran brain "The virus has spread through it; there is a possibility of brain damage…do you still want to treat this boy…and what's his name? I assume slave name, unless you're going to let him keep his own."

"His name is Peter Jason" Yondu informed them, he already was replaying the memory of the moment when Peter in a fit of tears had screamed at the top of his lungs over and over again to the point it became annoying "I am Peter Jason Quill, and I demand to go home". He had kept at it for hours, until Kraglin had coldly told him to tell him that to someone who cares…which was no one.

"And he's not a slave, he's a…"

Yondu could say Revenger, he had no idea who this female would report it to, Knowhere may not have rules, but there easily could be people on order of this kid's father who were waiting for a moment like this.

"Are you his Guardian or something"? The Healer supplied as she began to administer various needles into Peter's skin which caused no reaction on the boy's face. Yondu tried the word out in his head "Guardian"…it was a stupid word, but what the hell. "Fine…I'm his Guardian, so can you fix him or not?"

We're going to have to open his brain stem to extract the virus, and he'll have to go into the waters for a while. If he lasts the night, he's got a chance, if he's still here tomorrow he's got more of a chance, but brain trauma can be unpredictable..."

The words hung in the air, whilst Yondu digested the information, of the kid died that would be in for all of them "Whatever", he practically barked as he saw a small gleam of interest in the Healers eyes, the opportunity to treat a Terran was rare and Yondu had the feeling this would be her first attempt on such a young life.

"Help me set him up." She motioned to her Assistant, who immediately complied and pulled the boy into a sitting position, as she produces a scalpel from a tray. "You, hold his head very still." She ordered to Yondu, who took the boys head in his hands and as the Healer ordered just held him tight, feeling the boy's face slick with sweat.

Yondu could only watch, as she aimed it at the top of his spine, and with no hesitation, with the true hands of a professional who had seen it all, run it from the top to halfway down the vertebrae. Yondu saw in the reflection as the pale skin was juxtaposed with the red and bloody human flesh as he saw the boy's tissue exposed.

He kept his other eye on the boy, there was nothing, no flicker of emotion or any hint he even knew he was being pulled apart. The Healer began to plant small devices " to aid with the process" she explained to Yondu as she caught his gaze as she finally with a nod to her Assistant, pulled out a long thin syringe, it's needle seeping bright green fluid.

"What is that for?" Stated Yondu as he felt a moment of relief that the boy wasn't conscious for this, as this there was no mistaken the glee in the Healer's face. "If this is going to work, we have to activate his central nervous system to see how the virus is affective his active brain in a deeper way."

With no hesitation, she slammed the needle straight into Peter's top vertebra. For three seconds there was nothing, and then Peter's head jerked suddenly, almost tearing itself out of Yondu's hands which caused him to tighten his grip. Peter moaned as a strangled gasp began to emerge from his mouth.

One word that was easily recognisable, as the Yondu could see from the monitors his brain, begin to launch into life, as in these moments his virus was being eradicated. "Yondu." Peter whispered in a quivering voice, a mere two syllables was enough to cause pain to run across his face as his eyes suddenly snapped open and stared straight into the Centurion "Yondu". He said again, as everyone could hear the heart monitor being to jump widely "I'm here". Yondu said quickly as the boy screwed up his face in pain.

"Yondu…why are the lights off…turn them on please, please! The only words the boy had said for days, and they came out pitiful and weak, there mere effort making him exhausted. "Please turn them on, the dark hurts." Peter whined as Yondu could feel the life began to leave him once more "The lights are on boy". He stated in his no-nonsense voice, the one he normally used. "Then why can't I see." Peter gasped desperately. "I'm blind, I'm blind. Yondu don't let them hurt me again, please don't let them hurt me".

The boy's head dropped down, as the darkness claimed him again. Yondu heard the Healer chime in, clearly ignoring the boy's outburst, too focused on the diagnoses. "Burst blood vessels, both eyes possible from brunt force, potentially permanent blindness." The voice was so matter of fact that it made Yondu mad. Blindness...the kid could be blind! "Lay him down on his stomach would you." The Healer ordered her Assistants as the boy was moved from Yondu's grasp.

"You wait outside" She ordered the Centurion "Now." Her tone so similar to Yondu, it actually impressed him, any other day he would have easily got in an argument with her and won, he knew that. But he knew Peter was in the hands of the people who could save him, so went into the room next door and began the waiting game. All the while wondering, who the hell were the "them", Peter was referring to?


	5. Chapter 5

Standing in the waiting room, Yondu could only do just that, and he hated every second of it. He wasn't used to be ordered, years of that had hardened him to that experience, he gave orders...he was the Captain for Gods sake!

From where he was standing there was a small window, as he watched more Healers coming into the room to work on the slight boy. He could tell from their demeanours out of a dozen or so, the ones who were generally interested in saving the kid, and those just in thrall at the thought of experimenting on a Terran. Yondu watched as more devices were attached, more stuff was injected into him which seemed to change the hologram readout, but the boy was oblivious to all of this. His face so motionless Peter looked already dead.

Yondu wasn't looking at the clock, so had no idea how long he was standing there, as he watched Peter being taken on a gurney to another room along with several Healers, as the main one, the one that was giving him all the shit so far came to the door.

"Follow me." She said in a cold fashioned voice clearly saving all her tender loving care for the patients, end of the day she was a backwoods healers treating criminals, it didn't matter how she acted as long as they lived.

Yondu obeyed, resisting the urge to bite her head off as he followed her to another room, just as clean and clinical as the first, if not more so. Instead of a bed, there was a large pool built into the floor big enough for at least as six Centurians.

At the head of the pool on a raised platform, lay Peter totally dwarfed by the world around him, a hole less black mask had been placed over his eyes obscuring his vision, well if he wasn't already blind, as Yondu noticed his chest rising and falling more easily in time with the machines.

"His lungs are so screwed, so he's on total life support until he can find the strength to breath on his own." The Healer explained to Yondu, pointing out the small transparent shield that had been placed over his lips, which was forcing air in and out of his lungs. The mask is to help repair his vision; she continued the conversation as the pool began to fill with bright red water, which reminded Yondu of blood.

"The water has a pathogen in it, which will go through the cut on his back and heal the body, we've also added nutrients to seep through his skin to replace what he's lost…and a special little cocktail normally found on the Greater Magellanic Cloud. It will strengthen his bones, side effect of that is it will take him ages to gain full mobility. But it will give him a higher chance of survival…not that you should use it as an excuse for beating him senseless". She finished the conversation with a sneer.

"What about his blindness?"

"Oh, that…well if he lives, his sight will return eventually, the pressure is on his brain and it looked like a small new fracture contributed to that. He'll either be blind for the rest of his life, so may need transplants or it will heal and he'll be fine…we won't know about that for a few days anyway.

Yondu already resigning himself to the obvious fact that he was going to stuck on Knowhere for longer than he desired, could only nod in response.

"We're about to put him under the water, would you like to say something?" There was a softness in the question, yet still judging him at his potential response

"What do you mean..say something?"

"You're his Guardian aren't you? Didn't I tell you he may not make the night…this could be the last chance you have to say something to him whilst he's still alive".

Yondu looked at the pathetic boy, and had so many questions that he needed answering, as he bent down to the still boy and hissed in his ear "Don't you dare die on me, you hear me boy. This is your Captain and that is an order".

Peter moved slightly, as the sound of Yondu's words, but that was the only response as he heard the Healer who had overheard this exchange exclaims "Well that will scare him back to life won't it".

With that, she motioned to her Assistant, who pressed a few keys on the display, and almost immediately, the boy slipped into the water until his entire body could no longer be seen.

"So now what?" He addressed the Healer, whilst staring at the red pool, where the boy was continuing his fight for life.

"Well, now you wait." The Healer was looking at a display and not at Yondu, which was still annoying him. "The waters will take a while to have an effect, so you can either wait in the room, or sod off elsewhere and I'll contact you if he wakes up…or he dies".

She shrugged. "After reading this, I don't think you'll be flying off anywhere Yondu…Udonta". Yondu raised his eyes at the sound of his last name; he knew she had heard his first when the boy addressed him, now she knew everything else.

"Since after reading the boys DNA profile…I really don't think you'll be leaving us anytime soon". Her tone hadn't changed, but Yondu's did as his eyes narrowed in her presence "Listen to me, you heal this boy, or you try to heal this boy and that will be it. None of my crew wants any trouble, we just want the boy like he was…are we clear".

If the tone was a threat, the Healer who was a good foot shorter then Yondu, but height made no difference to her, as she seemed to rise upon him.

"No you listen to me, you are not the only patient here. This place maybe a shithole, but I have duty of care of all who step through the door, and to all my staff. I know this species that he's carries fifty perfect DNA from. I know what they're capable of, how do I know there not going to break through the door for him, how do know there not going to kill everyone here".

"Because they don't know that he's here."

It was perhaps the first bit of truth from Yondu that day, which was something the Healer recognised. "Fine, but keep it that way." She threatened as she turned from Yondu, "Do me a favour, get out of here for a bit, I'll call you if we have any news and take this". She picked up Peter precious backpack and threw it at Yondu who caught it with one hand, "Take care of this, there are thieves around…didn't you know".

Even if he wanted to stay to keep an eye on the boy, he wanted away from this place and this accursed female. Stepping from the Centre going from the immaculate and sterile to the grunge world was disconcerting, but at least that world was familiar

Yondu ran his hand over his face, and begun to look for a bar, he desperately needed a drink, which he managed to find a few minutes later. Since he hadn't eaten since gods knows how long, it hit him immediately, and he spent the next few hours sipping his drinks, watching it being refilled over and over again until he was so wasted he was veering on sober.

As he left the bar, since intoxication had given way to boredom, still clutching Peter's bag and a drink in the other, he noticed the time and realised that the mission, the wonderful mission that promised riches and trade should have been completed.

Veering his feet into an empty phone booth, he immediately patched a call though to Kraglin Obfonteri, the call took a few seconds to connect as Kraglin's face appeared into view. Yondu was slightly taken aback, and not just from the drinks. Kraglin looked like shit, he had a cut to the side of his head, split lip and since he was also holding a beer, it looked well deserved. The first mate was as half cut as Yondu, but he couldn't blame him or himself. "So how did the mission go?" The words were beginning to hurt in Yondu's head…how much did he have to drink?

"Bastard Kree decided to put in an appearance, but we get it all in the end. Left those scum practically crying in the dirt…a few bits of damage to craft, no death of the crew…so how's the boy?"

The last words were sober though, Yondu could have imagined the tone, but doubted it, as the watched Kraglin sip more out of the bottle he was drinking, and listened to everything Yondu had to say, as he filled him in on the events of the day.

"So where the hell did the kid go blind?" he asked his Captain. For all he knew the kid was fine, ok not fine but definitely not blind.

"He stated to fit on the way, the bastard kept looking at me, and it was starting to piss me off. And the little shit, was blind all the time."

"And he only woke up to tell you to stop it…well that's surprising". Kraglin shrugged as he cracked open another bottle.

"Why's that?" God this conversation was hurting Yondu's head

"I thought he would have work up crying for that "Mommy" of his, yet he asks for you…it's just strange that's all."

"Why do you think that's important" Yondu rubbed the spot between his eyes as Kraglin carried on.

"Because if his brain's damaged he may have forgot she even existed…just saying".

"You think he's forgotten his mother?"

"That or he knew she was dead…so you're the next best thing."

"Great, so I'm the kid's dad now."

"Well, aren't you? End of the day, you kept him and decided to raise him as a Ravager".

"What kind of Ravager is he anyway…damn kid can't even fight off a cold".

Kraglin coughed at this, it was a sign of their friendship they could talk like this together and Kraglin could always be counted on to be direct.

"He's the kind of Revenger that's been taken shit for months, and instead of coming and crying to you like a baby, he dealt with it and shut up…ok he "died" in med bay today. But did you have any idea there was something wrong with him? I certainly didn't."

Yondu digested the facts that deep down he already knew, before Kraglin continued.

"You may want him to be Ravager…but he' s still a child…and a Terran. He's like tissue paper to these guys".

"I never told them to beat him, Kraglin."

Kraglin took another swig of his drink, probably for courage. "But you never told them not too, did you?".

Yondu contemplated the question, he didn't, he really didn't. Revenger normally joined the crew fresh out of slave pits or shitty places like Knowhere, but a kid like Peter…how hadn't he seen it?

He looked up, to see Kraglin staring straight at him "Do you want me to call his father, his people…we can just tell them the kid got sick and changed his mind. They could be there in days?"

It would all be so simple to say yes, to rid himself of the kid as soon as possible and maybe get some units out of it…but the Revenger code suddenly rung in his head, and he just couldn't say yes. It was the silence that Kraglin understood.

"Look I'll keep my ears out, try to find out who's been beating him, but no one's mentioned it, and they seemed to have closed ranks after you left…end of the day it could be anyone, he's been bunking with them for four months".

Yeah, he had, from the moment he had been dragged from his cell and thrown into the bunker, and that was Yondu fault…and he knew it.

"Listen I have to go, the crew are getting wild and someone has to tell them to shut it…but let me know what you're going to do next…and tell me if he doesn't make it?"

With that, the call switched off, and Yondu sat contemplating his drink, until by some strange chance, his personal messenger beeped as he read the text out loud. "Get back to the Med Centre…now"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Since he was literally only a few dozen feet away, it took Yondu seconds to burst back into the Med Centre and back to where Peter was.

Stepping into the room, there was Peter having been raised from the pool, the accused mask still over his face as he was twitching widely.

The Healer was too busy looking at the life signs to pay attention to Yondu as she continued ordering her staff around.

"Get me the corderzol now" She barked at her Assistant, who was hastily preparing a syringe.

"What the hell is going on?" Yondu demanded as the Healer finally noticed his arrival.

He woke up in the water and became distressed and that "other" DNA line of his decided to kick in. His heart's in arrhythmia and can't cope because it's been bruised. If we don't calm him down, he's going to flat line."

"Again," Yondu said aloud.

"The Healer it seemed was prepared to ignore that last remark as she turned back to the boy. Peter was still twitching, unable to move courtesy of his bones being strengthened, the waters dripping off him giving his skin a pinker hue.

"Here, lift him up." Demanded the Healer, as she cleared the syringe of air ready to plunge into the boy's skin.

Yondu swallowed everything he wanted to say to her as he placed his hand on the boy's shoulder naturally missing touching his still exposed spine. Suddenly, Peter's head jerked and seemed to lean into Yondu's direction. The Healer still holding the syringe began to look at the monitors, "This is imm…" The last word went unfinished as Yondu also looked up at the screens. Even though, he knew almost dick about Terran physiology, he could see the outcome as Peter begun to stop twitching and the furrow in his boys decreased as if he was finally relaxing.

Even with the tube in his mouth and his eyes covered, they could all tell he was beginning to breath easier, Yondu's hand still on his shoulders who was slightly hesitant as if to lift it or not.

"This is amazing, almost impossible." Said the Healer, as other followed suit and stared at the machines.

"He's calmed down, he's finally calmed down." She turned to Yondu, with an unmistakable glint in her eyes. "You…take off your clothes now!"

Yondu, his hand still on Peter, could only look her up and down, "Listen, you're really not my type". Was his sarcastic reply, as the Healer rolled her eyes.

"This kid of yours has finally calmed down, and for some reason you're the only one he responds to. He's still got that damn virus in his brain, so he's going to have to stay in the waters…and you're going to have to stay with him!

"You have got to be screwing with me!"

The look in the Healers' eyes, as well as her staff, indicated that this wasn't the case.

"If it means anything, it would just be for a few hours…boy needs to heal, and you have to keep an eye on him."

"Why the hell me?" Yondu knew the answer, but had to say it anyway

"Because he trusts you, you idiot."

Yondu glanced over to the boy, who hadn't moved despite the argument carrying on not even a foot away, as one of the Healer began to apply small circular devices to his skin to produce electricity to keep his muscles moving. Yondu summed up the issue in his head, and finally nodded "Ok then."

"Oh good. You can get changed over there."

The healer motioned to a small room, where he could leave his stuff, as he dropped Peter's bag by the pool and ventured in, stripping out of his clothes quickly, naturally leaving his boxers on. Deliberately placing his arrow at the top, he always liked it to be in easy reach, so he could summon it if he had too.

He didn't want to give the Healers a heart attack of their own. Having grown up on slave ship or his early days as a Ravager, he didn't have time for modesty but got a bit of satisfaction when he stepped out of the room, and saw the blush creep up several of the Healers pink skin.

"Like what you see?" He drawled as they tried to get back to their work.

Yondu even with the deep crisscross scars and wounds' running over his body was the prime example of a Revenger male. He got a kick out of their discomfort, as the main Healer, who had ignored it, ordered him to get in the pool.

Yondu carried out the orders without a word, situating himself next to the boy, still on the raised platform.

As the water adjusted to his weight and his lower body disappeared, completely the Healer pointed to two of her Assistants, who came over to Peter as the platform began to lower again, and in an instant, they had grabbed the boys arms, and pulled him over to Yondu who almost on instinct grabbed the boy and pulled him towards his body.

"Oh, I was going to tell you how to hold him but you seem fine at that"

She mused barely looking up from her screen, as Peter even though still unconscious, somehow managed to settle onto Yondu's chest.

Yondu couldn't help the surprise running through him, as the boy looked to be sleeping, and more relaxed than he had prior to this moment.

"Well, he's settled," The Healer confirmed as the read his Bio-signs. "Still not out of the dark yet thought…but we'll know more in about ten hours."

"So what I have to stay here for the next ten hours?" Yondu realised he was still feeling the effects of the alcohol and now he had a Terran child he had to hold like a baby.

"No, you have to hold him until I tell you otherwise" The Healer said as she motioned to the others to leave the room "To help the boy rest." She claimed, not before turning one of the clear holograms to some sort of entertainment channel and throwing the remote to Yondu "So you don't get too bored". As the room shut behind them, and Yondu was all alone with the catatonic eight year old.

Holding the boy to his chest, feeling the boy's heart beat which he noticed was getting stronger as the healing waters lapped around Peter's body, it took less than an hour for Yondu to get irritated.

Switching on the channel, he entertained himself either watching a few champion fights that after watching how easy they were, he wished he would have put units on, all the while holding the small boy in his arms, glancing down several times to see the water lapping at his back, healing his shattered body. There was nothing from the boy aside from the small motions as the electrical currents were passing through his body. Eventually, Yondu however grew bored and since he recalled that he left his data padd with his stuff and clearly wasn't in a position to move.

Then Yondu remembered that boy's precious backpack, and since the boy was oblivious to it all, Yondu adjusted his body and balanced the boy on his chest as using his free hand he pulled the zipper open and begun to root through the contents.

There was a few school books, Yondu never advertised that he was good with languages, and spoke several including Peter's own. It was one of the many reasons he had been hired to pick up the boy in the first place.

Yondu was amused as he leafed through the paper to see that Peter was a very good student, many marks in red pen telling he had done a fantastic job, he was good in English science and maths and from looking at his classroom lesson plan seemed to have a full day, with lots of structure.

It sounded boring to Yondu as he began to look through the few textbooks, Terran science was so basic it was no wonder they hadn't joined interstellar flight but as he leafed through the illustrations he noticed food on some of the tables next to the spellings and began to wonder what did Terran actually eat?

Vowing to find out the moment the boy was released from his arms…then again why did he care the boy could be dead by the morning?

There were a few other objects, as Yondu's hand curled round a small figure, some sort of toy with bright orange hair.

The moment he saw it, Yondu imagined it on his console then glanced down at the sleeping boy and decided to put it back, oh he wanted it alright. But even he drew the lines of robbing the kid blind…literally, but if he died, then of course it would be his, in memory of him.

His hands then curled over a cube, and he frowned at it. Some sort of puzzle with different coloured squares on each side. The colours were all mismatched; it didn't look too complicated, just a simple toy…and ten minutes later Yondu was throwing it back in the bag, with every colour identical on all sides.

It was at the very bottom that he found the Walkman. He had seen it the moment Peter had arrived on the ship, and even knew how it worked when he demanded that the boy show him. For some reason music was important to the boy, since he hadn't stopped sobbing when three days into the journey across the galaxy the batteries had died. At the time, Yondu had claimed that there were no replacements, but as he slid open the battery pack and saw the two AA batteries, their life extinguished he really wasn't sure.

Putting the device back in the bag, Yondu flicked the Channel back on and kept watching, something or other, so used to the boys weight pressed against him he didn't even notice the moment, with his free hand he begun to stroke the boy's hair, which had been saturated by the blood-coloured water and was beginning to dry with his head now free of it.

Glancing down as his fingers fell through the brown-blond hair, which he noticed was getting too long for him. Then he shook that idea from his mind, His hair was too long…why the hell did he care that the boy needed a haircut?

With his eyes still on the boy, admits the small charges of electricity, he looked at the boy's face, and say that even with the mask over his face, and lips, his face was twitching slightly as if in the grip on a nightmare, darting his eyes over the machine, he could see his brainwaves beginning to become erratic, no doubt living the same nightmare, he had been living in the real world for months.

Yondu had noticed that the bruises on his skin had been eradicated by the healing waters, but there was nothing that could erase what was going through his brain at that moment, as he heard a small moan that seemed to drift from his nose.

Yondu fully aware that he could come close to another cardiac arrest, whispered softly in his ear "No one's going to hurt you, boy, and I'll kill the bastard who does". There was almost the chance that Yondu was lying through his teeth, but the words seemed to have an effect on the boy who appeared to sigh through his body as if he was drifting off to sleep.

Even though his species could stay up for days, and perhaps it was the alcohol still in his system, but soon Yondu found his own eyes closing, as he tightened his grip on the boy and waited for the moment when and if the boy woke up.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

If Yondu was hoping for a peaceful night sleep, which was difficult feeling the boys constant presence along with the electricity that was flowing within him. However, he was awakened several hours later as the Healers were in the process of wrestling Peter from Yondu's grip.

Yondu shook his head to banish the sleep away as he came face to face with the Healer as Peter was finally taken from him

"Oh, didn't I tell you, the waters often can cause drowsiness amongst Centaurians …funny that I didn't tell you." Was her reply, as with a pad in her hand she turned her attention to Peter who was being placed on a table in a sitting position

Healers began to rub the water from his body, naturally avoiding the still gaping wound on his back as Yondu got to his feet and stepped from the pool.

"Is he ok?" was his only question, as Yondu noticed her own demeanour changing slightly, to the point she seemed almost happy. "He's breathing on his own…we can take this out now. Here hold him". She instructed Yondu, who immediately grabbed the boy at his shoulders, as the breathing tube, which was longer than Yondu expected was pulled out,., almost immediately Peter began to cough, and a bowl was placed beneath him, as he coughed up the reminder of what was lying on his chest.

As the Healer checked his vitals on her display, and the looks of all her staff, there were noticeable smiles as she announced that his lungs and brain were fine, but the damage to his eyes would only be temporary. Until then he had to be placed in recovery, with that noted Peter was laid down on his chest, as a thick grey goo was spread across his spine, which caused the boy to shudder in pain.

With the mask still over his eyes Yondu guessed his reaction as he gasped suddenly, and in a thin voice suddenly called Yondu's name.

"I'm here." Yondu said, quickly in the boy's ear, he knew the kid had never seen Kree before and still had no idea what life was like outside the ship, "Where am I?" Peter asked as he struggled to move, which clearly caused pain to drift through his body.

"You're on Knowhere…you've been sick."

"I'm nowhere." Was Peter's fragile reply as his body went limp once more. The Healer glanced at Yondu, who was releasing his hold on the boy's body then sighed, which got the Ravagers attention.

"What is it," Yondu demanded. No nonsense this time.

"The waters have healed both his brain and his body, the virus and that damn rash have been eradicated and his bones should be at least 75 percent stronger, then what is expected of a Terran and that will never fade.

But, the damage to his eyes is going to take at least a month" She said the last part quickly, noticing the look on Yondu's face. "He needs lots of rest, so whatever he's been doing he had to stop it now and take it easy…can you at least do that for him."

Yondu remembered seeing the boy as he toiled in the laundry and scrubbed the decks for hours at a time before nodding. Regulating those duties would be easy, of course, the crew would complain but Yondu didn't give a shit about that.

"Yeah sure" he answered still unable to take his eyes off the boy.

"This is going to take a while, so why don't you bugger off and take a shower or something."

The Healer instructed Yondu, who knew exactly how he looked and did so without question, since he was still standing, wearing next to nothing and Yondu was aware of the waters sticking to his blue skin.

Years of being a Ravager ensured he could wash, dry and get dressed in under ten minutes as he stepped out of the cubicle, his yaka arrow in his waist band and clutching the boys backpack, as he left the room however he found that Peter was nowhere to be found.

"If you're wondering, he's in recovery. He's going to sleep for a while and we'll be sewing him back up in a few hours". The Healer supplied, "If I were you, I'd get out of here. You're of no use to anyone, and you're starting to get under my feet".

Grumbling to himself, Yondu had to admit he was starving, and it was clear that there was no way he could salvage a meal from the Healers, however as he made his way to leave the Centre he stopped suddenly and turned back to her. "I need to ask you something."

An hour later, as Yondu was finishing his breakfast, being a Ravager they could always be counted on finding cheap places to eat, as he scanned the list of produce on the date pad. Courtesy of the Healer, who for once didn't finish with a snarky comment when she had heard his request.

He was going through what the kid should be eating, Yondu was surprised to find that his species needs fish, meat, milk, pasta, rice and all the things that were expensive, there were alternative to be found and he had the information about that, but also all the meat had to be cooked.

Right, now he didn't trust the men to cook anything for Peter, well apart from Kraglin so it looked like it was a job they would have to share. Kraglin was going to love that.

Running his hand over his face, as he looked up in time to see a Kree boy about Peter's age falling to the mud, his mother scolding for getting his clothes dirty.

It finally occurred to Yondu that the kid really had nothing to wear aside from the clothes he was taken in, and whenever old he could find of the crews. Hell if the kid was going to be a Ravager, at least he should start dressing like one.

Paying the bill Yondu first went to the markets. The beauty of places like Knowhere were that the people were desperate they would sell their wares and food cheaply but after he had visited several stalls, showed them when he wanted or the alternative since milk would have to be powered, meat would have to be tinned. It didn't take long, but soon Yondu, with his wallet very much empty of Units was making his way back to his ship. It may have been cheap, but combined it defiantly wasn't.

Like any good Captain, he always paid his men, but naturally took a larger cut for himself and the upkeep of his ship and his eventual retirement. He had tapped into that fund to pay for everything the boy needed so Peter had enough food to last for at least 6 months, he knew if he begun short charging the crew, it would cause a mutiny...even if some of the bastards deserved it.

Placing the food down, he was about to put finally down that accursed backpack, when he felt the weight of the walkman sticking out, and pulled it from the bag. Looking at it straight on, Yondu noticed there was something off about the stitching on one of the sides, as with graceful tugs which was surprising since he had the hands of a pure Centaurian he pulled the material open. Clearly Peter had at least learned to hide the things most valuable as he pulled out a wrapped gift and the envelope with the feminine writing. Yondu was tempted to open it, perhaps the contents were valuable, but sensing the owner of the hand he put it back in, and pulled out the Walkman, placing it in his pocket for later.

Since he was on his own ship, and the time seemed good. He slid into his chair and opened a channel for Kraglin on the Ecector. Who must have been expecting his calls as his head appeared almost immediately, the cuts on his face now dulled to a faint mark.

"You found who hurt him yet?" As usually, Yondu's conversation was blunt, as his first mate shook his head.

"I got them wasted…ok that wasn't hard. But they've totally closed ranks; still got that betting pool on if he lives or dies…I bet lives by the way."

Great, Yondu thought as he begun planning his next move.

"Been shopping boss?" as Kraglin noticed the sacks of food, and Yondu began to fill him in on what had happened so far, and how much the little shit was costing him, and from the look on his face wasn't happy to be told that now he was going to be a cook for the brat, but an order was an order and Kraglin wouldn't disobey it.

"Also I want you to clean out main cell, make it into a room for the boy."

Kraglin blinked at this request "The boy gets his own room, and it's the main cell".

Peter at least knew the main cell; it was one of the biggest room, and one of the few that had its own toilet and shower. They normally kept it for transporting human cargo, which was what Peter once was, before he became a Ravager and was thrown into the bunks.

"It's not natural, an 8 year old boy bunking with all those asshole." Was Yondu's smooth, do not even question this any further reply.

"Yeah, sure that's no problem…I'll even make it look nice for him". Kraglin grinned, which managed somehow to rile Yondu, "Just make it look decent". He advised, and terminated the call.

Since he still had a million things to do, that day whilst the boy was in recovery and after patching a quick call to the Healer, who told him in her usual curt tone that he was still sleeping, he took himself off to the other market.

The kid needed new everything, as Yondu watched his Units disappear as he brought new jeans, tops, boots, underwear and stuff he would grow into since Yondu had no idea when they would return to a clothes Market,. All of it had to be dull colours, since the colours would last longer, but Yondu threw in a few red-shirts because they were on special. With the rest of the Ravager's it was a case of whatever you have, buy new shit later. But as Yondu got caught up buying clothes for the boy, to the point he almost brought a green long coat, since it was on sale, but wouldn't fit him until he was out of his teens. Besides as he mused as he watched the clothes being packaged. Red was a better colour on him anyway, since it was his favourite colour, Then he stopped himself as he remembered he had read it in one of that damn school books the kids.

With the hefty bag of clothes in one arm, Yondu felt his feet travel to the electrical stalls as he was feeling the weight of that god damn walkman under his coat.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Yondu walked for a while until he came to at least a reasonable in price specialist as the male Darbian looked down at Yondu as he passed him the Walkman.

"Terran, rare. I give you five hundred units for it". He said as the Walkman quickly became a wedge between the men.

Five hundred Units, Yondu tried to keep his face straight. Ok it wasn't a large amount by any means, but at least it was something. If he sold it right now, at least he could recoup some of the money he had spent on the kid today...and that didn't include the bill from the Med Centre. He was about to agree, as the look of the boys tear stained face suddenly jumped into view, the look he had when the batteries had died. And Yondu remembered him saying "I'm never going to hear her music again". It was obvious who the "her" was, and as he balked at the idea of selling the Walkman, Yondu knew he was a bastard, but he wasn't a damn bastard.

As he shook his head and requested it be fixed. It took a few minutes of persuading the guy, who was two feet taller than Yondu that he could fix it but would prefer to buy it, but eventually he relented and in less than five seconds, a solar patch had been placed in lieu of the double A batteries and Yondu was a good 50 units poorer.

"Never lose power, keep going until the universe dies." Promised the Darbian as Yondu felt his eyes wander over the stall. Eventually his gaze fell on a pad, it was second hand but still good enough, advertised for a child there was a sign saying it contained 5000 stories from ages 7 to 17. "How much for this too?" Yondu asked, as another 30 units exchanged hands.

With the pad and Walkman secure in his coat pocket, Yondu made his way back to the Med Centre, he felt like he had brought enough for the boy. Even though he could have spent ages buying something for himself, today he wasn't in the mood. Something he knew would have shocked Kraglin if he were here.

Stepping through the doors, he was immediately greeted by one of the Healers, thankfully not the bitch that had been on his ass over the past two days.

"Thank the stars, we were about to contact you. We've taken Peter into post op, but we've had a few problems"

Yondu immediately quickened his pace, as he followed her into the room, even though he heard the boy's wails a good three seconds before he stepped into the door.

There was Peter, lying flat on a table, his back open and still exposed to the world, as the boy was moaning his head off in pain, attempting to move his still stiffened limps in protest and failing.

"Thank god, you're here". The main Healer, the so far bane of his life looked up at him.

"We've tried to sedate him, but it's having no effect and he's starting to get stressed".

Yondu ignored her, as he unceremoniously threw the bag he was holding out of the way and stepped over to the boy. "Peter…Peter".

The Terran's head jerked at the sound of Yondu's voice, and the tension he was carrying in his shoulders seemed to relax.

"Yondu…it hurts". He moaned, his voice coming out thin in clear distress.

"I know...I know it does, but you're going to have to be very still".

"But why?" Peter whined, as he tried to move his head but failed.

In hindsight, Yondu should have lied at this moment, but felt that the boy deserved to know the truth.

"Because you've been ill…and they had to cut your back open".

It was the wrong thing to say, as the look of fear immediately crossed Peter's face, even with his eyes still masked. As he began to scream, it wasn't a strong scream by any means, but as Yondu looked up to see the faces of the Healers, who had all stepped back and were watching him, half in confusion and half clearly having the boys pain reflected on their own faces. as Yondu reached up and put a hand on the boy's face, and a few seconds later the boys screws died to small strangled sobs.

"It's hurts". The boy said again, in a pitiful voice, as more tears threatened to gush from his eyes.

"I know it does, but soon it won't…but you have to keep calm". Without realizing it, Yondu's voice had dropped to a whisper, his words meant for one person and one person alone.

"I can't move…and I can't see". Peter gasped in a shaky breath, his brow furrowed with stress.

"I know, but that's because you've been sick. You're going to be alright, and you will see again". Yondu reassured the boy, glancing up at the Healer, who was now standing with a needle and thread in her hand, there was an air of impatience on her face, which Yondu ignored.

"Yondu…please don't eat me". The boy said in a shaky voice, which caused every one that wasn't Yondu to glance at each other with his statement.

Yondu couldn't resist rolling his eyes; of course he wasn't being serious. He just wanted to scare the boy, this weak pathetic kid who was crying for his "mommy".

"No one's going to eat you, Peter". He said in the most reassuring, yet unfamiliar voice as possible.

"Then why did…you tell them, that you want…me tender?" Peter's face scrunched up once more, as his body began to shake in fear combined with the pain.

"Who are "them"?" Now he was getting somewhere, the one question he desired an answer, as Peter seemed to clench his jaw together, and perhaps subconsciously began to move from Yondu's grip, as he said his name again in an attempt to get the truth out of him.

After three attempts, which on some level irritated yet also impressed Yondu since Peter was still keeping stum, he felt the Healers hand on his shoulder gesturing him to the other side of the room, and she practically rounded on him

"You didn't beat that boy up?" The tone was demanding.

"Of course I didn't, look honey. I may be a bastard, but I've never laid a hand on that kid". Yondu gritted his teeth at the accusation. Even though he had pulled some shit over the years, and had personally ranked up a highly impressive body count. Even he drew the line somewhere.

The Healer looked away for a second, a thoughtful look on her face, before the turned back to the Centaurian. "Ok fine, I can give him some xycedrzal. It's a painkiller, that works a mild one…and it's also a truth serum. The problem is, is that it leads to fevers…high ones. If we give it to this boy, you cannot leave his side".

Yondu seeing the opportunity for what it was, nodded and almost in seconds. The Healer gestured to her assistant who hastily prepared a syringe and perhaps sensing the hell that she was about to throw Peter into, bent down until she was eye level with him. Peter was still in the grip on his fear, but managed to respond to her words, as she dropped her voice to a more reassuring tone.

"Hello Peter, my name is Healer Raziel. You've been sick, but you're almost better. But you have to be strong, and you have to tell Yondu everything. Can you do that?

Peter moaned, which she seem to take as a "yes". And within seconds the needle was plunged into Peter's skin, it took effect at least thirty seconds later, as the Healer returned to her position, and took back the needle and thread. Yondu took his place, where the Healer had preciously crouched, and as the needle was inserted into his skin, Peter gasped in pain.

Yondu instinctively gripped the boy's head, both to keep him still and to finally get the truth out of him, as Peter began to moan as even with the painkiller he was still in agony.

Yondu had begun to wish the boy could have been knocked out for this, but he was doing it to get the answer from Peter and asked the question he desperately needed an answer to.

"Peter." The boy seemed to look up at the sound of his name. "Who beats you on the Ecector?"

There was still some hesitation in his voice, as his brain was resisting the drugs, but eventually in a shaking voice he said the names of the Ravagers.

"It's Gunnsen, Proctom, Omevic and…I can't remember the last one". There was a note of distress in the boy's voice as the Healer chimed in. "Low level amnesia is common with meningitis". It was a good enough explanation that Yondu accepted as he brushed the last one aside. He would find that one out himself. As the boy continued without any prompting.

"They push me into bulkheads, they punch me at night. They stand round and take turns punching me in a circle…they punch me until I'm sick, and then they kick me in the stomach."

"Bastards." Yondu uttered under his breath, envisioning the shit hell the boy had been living through.

"Why didn't you tell me, I would have stopped them."

"No you won't, you said I had to be a Ravager…that I had to be tough". There was a note of bitterness and desperation in Peter's voice, as he was finally saying the words he had wanted to say for so long, but not by choice.

"I never told them to beat you Peter."

"But you never told them not too," Kraglin's words suddenly rung in his head.

"They said if I went to you, you'd slit my throat, and that you wanted them to beat me, so I'll be soft and tender for when you eat me."

"There a bunch of lying bastards." I never said that.

It appeared to be the words Peter needed to hear, needed desperately to hear. As he relaxed finally, his head sinking into the table, and seemed to finally notice the Healers still working on his back, and begun to hiss and moan as each needle was threaded into his skin. Even with Yondu still holding his head, and stroking his hair. Peter said no more to him. That one statement was more words that he had said for a while, as Yondu began to notice the heat beginning to rise from the boy, as the final stitch was completed, and a thin sheet was placed over the healing wound.

"The fevers in effect". The Healer informed him, as she and her Assistants stepped back from their handiwork. "He'll be delirious for the next few hours…we'll give you some privacy". With that they left the room, leaving Yondu once again with the unconscious eight year old.

As he promised the Healer, Yondu didn't move as the fever took a hold of the boy. The sweat began to drip from his brow as he seemed caught in a never ending nightmare. Several times Yondu caught the raspy whispers of "No…please" and "don't hurt me". He tried to lift his limbs to ward off an invisible attacker, who only existed in his nightmares or on the Eclector which was dozen of light years away.

In the end, Yondu sick of the position he was forced to sit in and remembering the night before, spied a chair on the other side of the room. Picking the Terran up in his arms, still taking care not to rip his stitches, as he pulled the blanket over him as he stepped over to the chair and sat down. Peter moaned at this sudden action, but was too deep in the throes of his nightmare to protest this movement.

As he got Peter settled, feeling the boy relax greatly against his broad Centaurian chest, Yondu finally remembered the damn Walkman that was in his pocket, and pulled out the rectangle object. He could have announced that he had fixed it, but Peter was too deep in his fever and Yondu couldn't be bothered, as he settled it near the boy, loud enough so he could hear it, but so could Yondu too. As after a six month slumber the play button was pressed down, and the sounds of the Terran music filled the room.

The effect on Peter was immediately, as his face screwed up in curiosity and shock, before he relaxed, and seemed to cuddle up into Yondu as a smile slipped over his face. With the boy sleeping, even with the fever still ravaging his body, it didn't take long before Yondu got bored, so began reading the pad he had brought the boy. He never advertised it, but Yondu when he wasn't the Captain...or planning missions, was an avid reader.

In old world myths, there were always mention of treasures, and as Yondu had proved over the years, those treasures were not myths, but object of value. There was enough of value on the pad, as Yondu began throwing in some more science information, more about ships, and more things to keep the boy entertained.

As he promised the Healer he never moved from his position, even with the boys damn Walkman on repeat, so he had to hear that stupid "Pina Colada" song one more time, until eventually he could feel Peter's tender body begin to cool down, and somewhere in the early hours, and hearing "Hooked on a Feeling". Yondu fell asleep too, so he never noticed the Healer as she looked into the room, and walking away smiling as she wrote on her chart. Peter Jason, expected full recovery, no damage to heart and under it. Yondu Udonta has one.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Yondu."

The Centaurians eyes snapped open at the sound of his name, as he looked down at the small boy. At some point in the night, Peter's fever had broken completely and he felt at least to Yondu completely normal. Peter was staring up at him, an obvious look of confusion on his face, even with his eyes still masked, the sound of the precious Walkman still filtering round the room.

"Peter" was Yondu's reply, as if finally realizing the absurdity of the situation.

"What happened?"

Yondu know the drugs in his system would screw up his already mangled brain, so this was to be expected.

"You don't remember anything?" One some level he felt disappointed, he had bent over backwards for the little shit he had no idea how much.

Peter's face screwed up in a frown, as he said in his shaken voice "I remember being in the mess and feeling bad…and being in the med bay with Kraglin. And then you asking me who beats me".

There was an element of anxiety in the boy's voice, which Yondu didn't interrupt as Peter finished with "Yondu…did I die?"

The words were so direct, for a moment something tugged in Yondu's chest.

"Of course you didn't, you idiot." He informed the boy, who settled back against Yondu's chest.

"Oh…why didn't I die? I remember someone saying I should be dead".

Yondu recalled those words from both the Healer and Kraglin, and decided the boy needed some honesty. "Because I wasn't going to let you die Peter."

"Why not." The boy's words were so direct, for a kid who'd been silent for so many months; it was oddly disconcerting to hear the edge that had appeared in his voice. Yondu half expected him to mention the whole "I'm going to eat you, issue". Instead as he tried to think of an explanation.

"Because you're a member of my crew."

The answer clearly wasn't good enough for Peter, as he seemed to look away from him, no doubt thinking about how "members of the crew" had been using him for a punching bag for all those months.

There was silence between the two, as Peter leaned his head towards his Walkman, Yondu was expecting some sort of gratitude for all of this, instead the kid just look confused.

"When did you fix the Walkman?" asked Peter, the look still on his face.

"While you were sleeping" Replied Yondu, wondering where this was going.

"But why?"

Why, it seemed to be a constant question in this kids' head, Yondu knew he had saved his life, and all he got in return was "why".

As he contemplated the question and the boy's confused face, the only thing he could come up with since Peter seemed to be a bullshit detector whilst blind, was.

"Because you deserved it for taking a beating like a Ravager."

At the mention of his beatings, Peter grew uncomfortable, and if not for his limbs being heavy, Yondu knew he would have run for the room, as he was trapped and knew it.

The kid grew silent once more so Yondu had to say something.

"You know I never told them to beat you…don't you".

Peter shrugged or tried to anyway. "I do now...I tried to tell you once..." The boys voice faded again.

As the silence fell once more, something Yondu was beginning to find unbearable as he found another question to ask the boy.

"Peter…why did you ask for me and not your mother." The boy's nose scrunched up at the question and seemed as awkward to say it as Yondu was for asking the question.

"Because she's dead…and I'm a Ravager now and you're my Captain". Was the soft but definite reply. This drew no response from Yondu as he let his mind process the answer. Yondu knew what a bastard he had been to the kid, for the last six months. The last few days had proved that, yet the kid still reached out to him for help, but only when it came to him almost dying. Damn that kid really was a Ravager, but the realization didn't exactly fill him with joy.

Mercifully the air was disturbed by the Healer stepping through the door, a smile on her face along with three of her Assistants.

"Ah good, you're awake."

Peter's head twisted at the sound of the unfamiliar and feminine voice as the Healer stepped over, glanced at his information on a pad and addressed the boy.

"Well, Peter Jason, your vital signs are normal, and your eyes seem better, so we're just going to prop you up on the table to check…is that alright."

There was hesitation in the boy's voice, but eventually he nodded as the Healers came over, and listed him from Yondu's arms, causing the boy to hiss at the sudden movement in his stiff limbs.

Yondu got to his feet, turning the Walkman off and sliding it in his pocket and stepped over as the boy was seated on the table he had been stitched on and with great ease the Healer reached out to the mask, and carefully lifted it off his face.

At the sudden rush of light, that engulfed his eyes Peter immediately jammed his eyes shut and winced from the pain, causing the Healer to drop the lights in the room and encourage him to try to open them again.

Gingerly Peter obeyed, and for the first time in days opened his green eyes that seemed to shine brighter.

"Can you tell me what you see?" Instructed the Healer, as she shined a light in each one.

"It's hazy, I see some pink…there's a lot of pink in this room". The boy's innocent statement caused smiles to break out on the Healers faces since the colour was indicating their skin. "And I can see Yondu…well I can't see him, but I can see some blue". As his face moved in Yondu's direction, and even though Peter's eyes were still unfocused, like it was when he was sick in the ship he seemed to stare into Yondu.

Yondu more out of habit over the last few days, moved his hand to Peter's head perhaps to reassure him or run his hands through his hair, Peter's head jerked back suddenly, and a look of fear crossed his face, causing Yondu to drop his hand immediately. As the boy looked away nervously from Yondu's direction, who had no idea what to say to the boy as the Healer seemed to ignore this moment and carried on like nothing had happened.

"Well, that's marvellous. Your sight will return in about three weeks with the right medicine and lots of rest". She threw that last word in Yondu's direction, "and once you're dressed, you can go home today".

"Home…ok." Peter seemed confused suddenly, even with his sight returning he was still unaware of his surroundings, but the question in his mind died on his lips, as he reeled back suddenly causing both the Healers and Yondu to grab him before he fell off the table.

"That's normal after this type of trauma." The Healer informed Yondu, as she steadied the boy. "He's going to sleep on and off for a while."

Yondu already knew this, but if it made the Healer feel better by reminding him, then so be it.

Peter was laid flat on the table as the Healers began to injects proteins and nutrients into the boy's body, to keep his immune system active, the Healer Raziel explained as Yondu could only wait.

As he stepped out into the streets of Knowhere Yondu run his hand over his face, and was tempted to walk into the bar only a few feet away to drown his sorrows. He had no idea what he was expecting when the boy woke up, but he never envisioned that.

In the end, he just leaned against the wall for a good thirty minutes before heading back into the Centre. Peter was now awake and sitting up drinking a protein shake through a straw, from the look on his face it was clear it was disgusting, but since it was the first thing he had consumed for a while, he drank it greedily, and looked content as he slurped the last bit noisily, which made the Healer smile as she took the glass off him.

"Ok, when you're ready, we're going to get you dressed." Even with his limbs like rock, Yondu could see the boy turning to ice. "But you're girls." Was his only reply, which managed to raise a chuckle out of Centurian, and confusion from the Healers at the issue.

"I don't want girls to see me naked." Stuttered Peter, in a slight panic.

Yondu could have pointed out, that the Healers had seen him naked from the moment he came in, but decided against it. On the Eclector, modesty always took a back door, but Peter was still only eight.

"Do you want me to dress you"? Yondu didn't realise the harshness of the tone, until it was said, which it was clear to the boy, it indicated it was an order and not a request. Something that Peter understood as he nodded, which caused his head to ache from the sudden movement.

With the Healers filed out of the room, to let them sort it out. Peter had regained some stretch to be able to grip the table as Yondu made his way over to the bag, and sorted out a t-shirt, jumper and jeans. As he placed them down on the table, and began to figure out the correct way to dress the boy, Peter gingerly run his hand over the new and unfamiliar material and just look confused. "These aren't mine." He queried the Centaurian.

"They are now...I brought you a few things". Which was the understatement of the year.

The response did nothing to quell the confusion etched all over the boy's face.

"Why…did you buy me clothes"?

"Because you're a Ravager, you have to dress like one." One some level Yondu was getting sick of the boy's reactions and just wanted to get him back to the Eclector, as he began pulling the clothes on Peter's body. As expected, it took a while but even with his body in clear pain, as Yondu tried to stuff his limbs into the clothes, the boy never once complained, and never once looked at Yondu. Since the boy clear was a runt of his former self, the clothes pretty much hung off him which Yondu was determined to change.

As he was finishing putting the boy's jacket on him, the Healer popped her head round the door.

"Ahh perfect, if you'd like to bring his out now we can work on his discharge note."

With the ease perfected over the past two days, Yondu picked up the boy wordlessly, before grabbing the boys backpack and stuffing it into the clothes bag. Before slinging it over his arm. Stepping up to the Reception, Peter leaned against Yondu's chest which was familiar as at the desk, the Healer almost with a flourish presented him with the bill.

Which almost made Yondu balk, it was a fortune! It was roughly six months salary, so this was the cost of staying out of the way to save this kid's life. The Healer peered at him, expecting a reaction, even to refuse to pay it. Hell he was a Ravager it wouldn't be the first time he dunked out of the bill…it was almost expected.

"Oh, the bill includes aftercare, medicines and all he's going to need until he's recovered…if there is a problem, you can leave the boy here? He stays…we call it even?"

Yondu's eyes narrowed at the suggestion, and he wasn't sure if she was serious or not with the fake sincerity. At her question however Peter, gripped his frail fingers on Yondu's leather coat and seemed to try to bury his body into Yondu's chest.

Yondu didn't even bother to answer, as he shot the Healer a look that could kill in more ways that a blaster couldn't and signed the bill. Immediately the boy was discharged and the Ceturian was a lot poorer. As one of the Healers, not the one who was looking right at him, put a box of medicine into the clothes bag.

"Take care Peter." The Healer said,

"Bye…and thank you" Peter said in a small whisper, as Yondu still gripping the boy, turned and with an appreciate grunt to the ones who had brought the boy back from the brink and left the building.

As the Healers watched him disappear into the crowd, one of them turned to Healer Raziel "Were you serious about keeping that boy?"

In response, Raziel turned her head and offered a smile "No, a bad Captain would have jumped at the chance, and that kid would have said something…interesting pair those two. Still can't figure out how he managed to get hold of a Terran child though…bet there's a hell of a story in that".


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

With the centre now behind them Yondu began to weave his way through the crowds, no easy feat with the Terran in one arm and a bag in the other, he was half tempted to go to the nearest bar and grab a drink and something to eat.   
But as he peered down at the boy, Peter had already fallen asleep, and seemed oblivious to the hustle going on around him so continued on his path to his ship.

Opening the bay door, he unceremoniously threw the clothes bag down and was about to park the kid in one of the chairs, when he looked down at the boy. Somehow Peter’s hands had wrestled around the rough leather and were clenched tightly. 

Yondu already knew that his limbs needed therapy , and was slightly hesitant of yanking those hands clear, knowing his luck the kids hand would break and he would have to take him back to the Med Centre, something he was sure would make the Healer a very happy and rich woman. 

Parking himself in the captain's seat, and adjusting the sleeping boy, so he would be able to maneuvere the ship with ease, Yondu sent a quick communique to Kraglin to meet him at the same point he had left the Eclector and took to the air, soon leaving the celestial body that made up Knowhere behind in deep space. 

As the hours passed, there were a few murmurs from the boy, but he was breathing evenly with nothing to show he was going to be awake any time soon, which pleased Yondu no end until he had cleared the asteroid field, and opened a private hail to Kraglin.

Yondu waited as the first mate dropped into view, and his eyes darted to the sleeping boy. “Well someone made himself comfortable…new clothes?” The tone was slightly mocking, which Yondu ignored. “Oh, shut it…any word on the ship?”

“Naaa, the three of them have no idea, been acting like a couple of bastards, I remember them being in the mess and being the ones who were kicking him, but there were a few there, so the fourth one…could be anyone”

Typical, Yondu thought, but kept that to himself. He was going to get it out of them, he already knew that, and from the look on Kraglin’s eyes so did he. 

“Just keep listening for anything, and meet me when I get back to the ship.”

“Will do, boss. Kraglin out”

As the screen flicked off and Yondu turned back his attention to the stars, as he was suddenly distracted by the boy moving gently against him.   
Switching the ship to autopilot, and looking down, Peter was scrunching up his eyes, in the throes of sleep, as his still damaged eye settled onto Yondu and immediately began to inch away. 

“Relax kid; I’m not going to hurt ya.” Yondu informed the boy, slightly pissed at the kid’s reaction to all of this as Peter gave Yondu his answer by looking away from his gaze, really looking at nothing more than shadows. 

“Peter.” The boy flinched at the slight raise in Yondu’s tone, the universal indicator that this wasn’t a request but an order, as the boy turned his head back and seemed to swallow nervously.   
“When did you try to tell me you were being beaten?”

Peter seemed to be trying to look away, but Yondu didn’t give a damn that the boy was pretty much blind and stared at him for a full minute. It was meant to make the little shit nervous, perhaps break him into a sweat, if that was what it took to get the information out of him, as he said in a shaky voice.  
“I tried to, I tried to the first time…I had been in the bunk for about a week when they jumped me. I came to your door crying, and you told me to “Stop acting like a bitch, and take it like a Ravager”…so I did”. 

Yondu with his free hand rubbed it between his eyes, damn he remembered that moment. He had perhaps one of the most shittiest days of the week, then when the kid had knocked at his door. He had taken one look at the crying child, who had assumed was crying for his “mommy” and told him to piss off!   
Peter wasn’t finished, as after six months of holding it in, he continued his speech.   
“And every time I wanted to, you looked at me like I was nothing, like I was dirt so they begin to tell me that they were acting on your orders, that you wanted me to be “tender”” He practically spat out the last word, no doubt reliving everything in his mind.

This was the moment Yondu was pleased that the boy couldn't see the look on his own face as he felt like shit...class A shit. He knew the boy was right, every time he had seen the boy he had taken out his frustrations on him, all the jobs they had lost, being pushed to the outer rims…which wasn’t the kids fault. He didn’t even know the real reason why it was happening, but Yondu still decided to take it out on him.   
“I’m sorry Peter.” Yondu realised that it was the most he had used the boys name since he had arrived. Prior to that, it was either “Quill” or the dehumanising “Boy”, and the first time he had apologised to anyone for a very long time. 

Peter looked to be choking back a sob, “I’m sorry too”. A sentence that drew surprise from Yondu “I’m sorry I got sick, I’m sorry I’m a weak pathetic Terran, and not a real Ravager….and I’m sorry I cant remember who else was beating me….I keep trying, but it’s all shadows. I’m sorry Yondu”. With that the tears began to gush from Peter’s eyes, tears he had contained within himself for so long.   
Yondu adjusted his body, and letting his fingers fall through the boy’s hair, the boy sobbed quietly until Yondu felt his body go slack with sleep, totally exhausted from the conversation that had just taken place. 

Switching the autopilot off, as the sight of his ship came into view and the hanger bay door dropped, as the ship went through decompression and it was safe to step onto the deck, Yondu gently woke the boy in his arms. “Peter…Peter. We're back on the Eclector”.  
Peter looked up, and squinted, groggily, as Yondu opened the ships door and the pair was joined by Kraglin, the sounds of his boots falling heavy on the metal as he joined them in the cockpit.

“Well isn’t this a sight to see.” Kraglin keeping the humour in his voice, to try to break the tension, as Yondu gestured for him to lift the boy up. Peter hissed at the sudden movement and his legs buckled beneath him as Kraglin tried to put him to the ground. As Yondu got to his feet, he immediately took the boy back and pointed to the various bags that Kraglin would have to carry. 

Perching the boy on the Captains seat, he immediately began to massage the boy’s tense legs.   
“Peter, you have to walk from this ship, or there going to think you’re weak…do you understand?”  
Peter just nodded, and it was clear was trying not to cry with pain, as Yondu tried not to be too rough as he was breathing life into the boy’s limbs.   
After a few minutes, the moment Peter said he felt confident enough to walk which Yondu already knew was bullshit, but he gave the boy some dues for his tenacity. He rose tenderly to his feet as with Kraglin with expert ease of someone who was used to carrying heavy objects, had picked up everything from Yondu’s shopping trips. 

Exiting the M-Ship, as expected Yondu looked up to see several of his crew with their faces pressed against the glass, as he half led, half dragged the boy from the hanger. As expected it took a while, all three of them walking slowly to compensate the boy, as Yondu could feel the trembling in his body veering on collapse. He wasn’t going to advertise the fact that the boy was currently blind. He knew he was a target, like hell he was going to make it easier for them. Little by little the net had been cast of the bastards who had caused all of this, but they didn’t know it. 

Getting nearer to the bunker, Yondu could practically feel the terror in the boy's head; he knew all the steps of the ship from scrubbing the decks, as he pushed the boy further along the deck to the main cell.   
From the corner of his eye, he could see Gunnsen and Proctom, standing in the bunker door, false sincerity on their faces. He was tempted to kill them there and then; instead he just gave them a casual nod and kept moving. No matter what he was going to do, he wasn’t going to do it in the boy’s presence. 

About a minute later, they came to the main cell, passing through the door Peter seemed to know he was in sanctuary and practically collapsed as Yondu moved him over to the bed and looked around. Kraglin had done a pretty good job; it was similar to both his and Kraglin’s room, basic with a cupboard, shelves and of course the bed. As Yondu settled him down, and remembered to take the boys new boots off, which clanged to the floor.

Without an order Kraglin begun taking the clothes from the bags, and arranging them on the cupboard, as Yondu took the Walkman out of his pocket and left it near his head, he knew the moment Peter was more alert he would want it.   
“Where am I”? Peter mumbled aloud, exhaustion claiming him again.   
“You’re in the main cell.” Replied Kraglin, as he was closing the cupboard.   
“The main…”there was panic in the boy’s voice, no doubt tapping into the first memory of the day he had arrived.   
“You’re here, so no one can get to you.” Yondu said him in a harsh tone throwing Kraglin a look to shut it.   
“So I’m a prisoner…or am I cargo”.  
“Neither, you’re a damn member of this crew.” Yondu unintentionally raised his voice, which caused the boy to shrink against the bed in total panic as a look of terror crossed his face. 

As the silence fell, Yondu took advantage of the situation to slide the air vent of the room open, before stepping back.   
Peter looked to be trying to say something, but it was clear he was still too exhausted for his body to function. As he sank against the bed and closed his eyes.   
Yondu knew it was uncharacteristic of him as he begun to arrange blankets around the boy, as Kraglin could only stare at this sight, of the fierce captain, literally putting a child to bed. 

“Yondu looked around the inspected the scene, as his eyes fell on a small table next to the bed. Kraglin had placed a small box of an assortment of blaster pieces as he turned and raised his eyes towards the first mate.   
“A good Ravager, can put one together in the dark…thought the boy could use a challenge” Kraglin stated. A thread of logic Yondu couldn’t deny as he checked for a firing charger and found none. “I’m not stupid enough to give him the tools to make a loaded one, boss.” Yondu grunted his approval as he turned back to the boy, still fast asleep on the bed.   
“Kraglin is going to come in, in a few hours with some food for you. And this door is going to be locked…understand”. 

Peter mumbled something in his sleep which Yondu took for a “yes”, as the two males left the room, locking it securely behind them, Kraglin now holding the food parcels as the pair of them came to the mess hall. The room that Peter had almost died in, less than three days earlier.   
As usual there was an assortment of crew milling around the mess, who had the good grace to look up, as they finally encountered their Captain.   
“Don’t you bastards have anything to do, get out of here now….that an Order!”

Immediately the crew filed out, some of them giving Yondu funny looks as if trying to figure out what was going on, as Yondu took the bag off Kraglin and begun to sort through it. “Find a spot in the stores, and I want this stuff locked away, this shit’s expensive and I don’t want to go back for more supplies.”   
As he took out a tin of soup…or the Terran equivalent to it, and begun to pour it in a saucepan, as he turned just in time to see his first mate, pulling two beers from the fridge, ripping open the cap and passing him one, before he begun to carry out Yondu’s orders. 

In the few minutes, as Yondu continued to stir the soup, totally pissed that as Captain he was reduced to this, whilst remembering to check the correct temperature, as Kraglin came back and carried on drinking his beer waiting for his Captain to say something.  
“There’s enough for tomorrow after that you’ll be taking over. As soon as the boy’s healthy he’ll have to learn to cook. No one is going to baby him on this ship.” Stated Yondu, which caused a small chuckle to rise out of the pale first mate  
“Whatever you say, boss.”

The tone of the voice annoyed Yondu as he turned his head back round.  
“Are you trying to say something to me Kraglin?”  
Kraglin leaned forward, with one so used to Yondu and his ways, he was perhaps the only person in the universe who could see right through him.   
“Yondu…why the hell did you go to all this trouble?”

Why, for the love of God, Kraglin was going to get as bad as the boy with the constant question.  
“Because he’s a member of my damn crew…why is this still a question?” Anger dripped in sentence, as Kraglin took another swig of the bottle. “Fine whatever.” In a tone, that Kraglin knew wasn’t over yet. 

In silence, he watched his Captain cook the soup adding it to a few containers, knowing Peter’s stomach was too small to handle anything heavy, as without being ordered his men began to file back into the room. All slightly perturbed at the sight of the Captain stirring the soup in the pan. 

As if a switch was being flicked Yondu addressed them “It turns out, that our little Mister Quill has a soft touch for a stomach. The weak little Terran that he is…is going to get the basics until the little shit is all better”. Kraglin could only raise an eye and take a drink, as the rest of the men joined in on the bravado as he tried to spot anything that stood out in the crew, apart from the three he knew had beaten the kid.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok everyone here's the latest update and it took a while because writing Yondu is hard, it's trying to keep to his character when all we know about him is only in the few scenes in the film. I hope everyone likes this, and it got way too long so I made it a two-part. Also, I realised I made a total continuity error in the first chapter, which I tried to fix in this.

Chapter 11

An hour later Kraglin was carrying the small tray to the main cell, well now Peter's new bunk, with a soft rap on the door that produced no reply, Kraglin swiped his hand over the lock. Yondu having changed the central network to accommodate only three people, and he knew that one of them wouldn't be venturing form the room anytime soon alone.

In the room, the only sound was the boys walkman perched near his head, so he could hear anyone coming into the room, and the sounds of the boys breath as he lay cuddled into the blanket.

Kraglin knew that wasn't good for his limbs, from what Yondu had told him, as he placed the tray down, and jostled the boy from his dream.

Peter's eyes snapped open, as the presence looming over his bed and seemed to clench his body tighter "Yondu". The voice came out as a harsh whisper.

"No, it's Kraglin." Before he paused, remembering his Captain telling his how badly screwed up the boys mind was "Do you know who I am?"

Peter nodded, which caused a small smile. "Your Yondu's skinny ass First Mate!"

Kraglin's lips twisted into a grin at the boy's honest description of him, as he remembered the tray he was holding

"Yondu sent you some food. Can you sit…?"

Without asking for help, Peter raised himself into a sitting position, adjusting himself until his back was touching the headboard, the pain etched on every bit of his flesh.

Carefully Kraglin placed the tray in the boy's lap. Yondu knew he would be unable to hold anything, and felt that the boy would hate to be spoon fed like a baby, so he had poured the soup in a flask and added a straw. "Yondu put some nutrients and extra calories, to make you feel fuller." Even though Peter was blind, Kraglin tried to study the boys reaction, but seemed to be staring into nothing, uncomfortable at this sudden concern for him, as he followed the orders to the letter, and begun to consume the food greedily.

As he finished, he leaned back, clearly feeling the another wave of exhaustion as Kraglin quickly took the tray and approached him with the eye drops Yondu had passed to him.

"It's to help with your sight…and it is an order."

He wasn't expecting any backchat and didn't receive any, as the boy obediently lifted his head up; the liquid spilled out of the corner of his eyes and looked like tears.

"Where's Yondu?" Peter finally asked, as Kraglin begun clearing the tray.

"He's back on the bridge, doing his job. Said he'll be here soon…but then again he was by your side for the past few days, you must be sick of the sight of him". He tried to finish the sentence with an interject of irony, which as the smile crossed the boy's lips, which he actually appreciated.

"But he is wondering, do you remember who the fourth one is yet?"

Peter shook his head, naturally causing another bout of pain, which led to a coughing spasm in his chest.

"Don't worry, it'al come to ya," Kraglin reassured the boy, as he turned to leave telling him he would be back in a few hours to work on his muscles, as Peter leaned against the bed, before calling out for the first mate with one question.

"Kraglin…why does my chest hurt so much?"

Kraglin stopped in the doorway and turned back to the boy in the bed. "You mean you don't know?" As Peter could only shake his head which caused Kraglin to walk back to the bed, and sit down on it to explain.

"Peter, you died in the med bay, Yondu had to punch your heart to get it going again."

Peter blinked, and a look Kraglin couldn't describe crossed his face "I died...but Yondu told me I didn't. Why did he do something like that? I thought he hated me."

"That's one thing I keep asking, so you're just going to have to ask him that yourself, when he comes to see you."

Peter nodded still trying to digest the answer in his head "When…when will he come and see me".

"Whenever Peter, you know him." Even though it had been proved that Peter really didn't, but didn't say that to Kraglin.

"Anyway get some rest, I'll be back when the men are asleep to get you walking around. Yondu's keeping it from all of them how bad you were".

With that Kraglin locked the door and begun to walk back to the deck, noticing Yondu's room was opened, he turned to see his Captain, leaning on the wall, next to the air vent, clearly having heard every word between the two, as strange look on his face, which headed in his direction as Kraglin waited for Yondu to say something.

"So you told the boy, he died…well that's just perfect". The voice was clearly pissed as Kraglin knowing the Captain too well could only claim "Well you never told me not too. Besides the kid deserves to know".

"He doesn't need to know anything unless I give the order to, am I clear on this Kraglin?"

Yondu's tone was harsher than normal, so in the end Kraglin only shrugged. "Whatever you say Yondu." As he turned around and left his Captain just standing there leaning against the wall in thought.

As the days wore on, it silently became a routine between the three of them, Yondu would prepare the food, often at night whilst there was no one around, eventually graduating to solid foods and Kraglin would take it to him and work on building the kids body again.

Taking him by the arms in the dead of night, and leading his feet on the cold deck, walking with him, until he could feel the boy become exhausted. Most of the time neither of them spoke, and Peter never complained as he gritted his teeth with pain at the adjustments that had been done to him, and the muscles that now had to relearn everything, as the sweat poured down his body.

In the meantime, both of them tried to observe the three that had done this to the boy., to give a hint to the last one was, but all of the bastards appeared to be popular with everyone, and Yondu knew it was one of them, but it also meant that everyone in the bunk had observed this, and unlike Yondu had done nothing.

But he knew that no one would be a snitch, and if they were would just point fingers at each other. So still in the dark about this they both focused on the boy. Everyday, the moment Kraglin walked in, the boy asked for Yondu, which was both starting to disappoint and irritate Kraglin, as acting on the Captains orders he massaged the boy's body, occasionally digging in more harder then he would have liked, but all he knew about tending muscles, he learned at brothels!

The simple fact that Yondu had ordered him was becoming a bone of contention, which he had no issues of voicing constantly to the Captain, during his daily updates. Which Yondu knew about from the way he observed the boy at times, when Peter's eyes were still recovering, but he had found the pad and was beginning to like the stories he was reading, and it had become a common sight, to see Peter on his bed , trying to put the blaster together, his music on full blast.

Yondu had heard all the songs by now and had got to the point he knew the next line. The only true sound that bothered him, was when he heard the boy crying in his sleep courtesy of the air vent, as he lay on his own bed, practically seeing the fat tears falling down the boys cheeks, there were times, as he sat up on his bed and felt like going into the room, and telling Peter it would be alright. But for some reason just sat there.

This distance between the pair, however was affecting Kraglin the most as in the end, to the total disobedience of Yondu he switched places with Horuz on a small mission, offering him a percentage of his cut if he said nothing.

Yondu didn't know about this until Kraglin was light years away and he came to the realisation that he had to care for the kid. Leaving Yarovesky in charge, he prepared the meal and took it down to the boy, grabbing a few bottles of beer on the way, and hit the door open.

Peter was still sitting on the bed, still trying to assemble the pieces of the blaster, from what Yondu could see, it actually looked like he was doing a pretty good job as the boys heads jerked up at the presence of another in the room. "Kraglin." He asked as Yondu noticed how much stronger his voice was, and how typical he was now deciding to ask for the one person who had decided to bugger off.

"No, it's me Yondu…I brought you some food". As he passed the boy the tray, and sat down in the chair opposite, cracking open his beer. Peter knowing he was being scrutinised, ate as quickly as he could as Yondu took the tray off him and placed it down on the table.

The silence between the pair managed to make them both uncomfortable. Peter was looking into Yondu's eyes clearly trying to find the right thing to say, as Yondu struggled to find something, as he said the only thing that came to his mind "What do you think of your new room?"

From the look on Peter's face, he looked like he was being tested as he slowly answered "It's nice, it's great actually…better then where I was." The last note of the sentence, hinged with concern, as Peter looked away from Yondu and begun to turn his attention back to the blaster.

Finally, Yondu could bear this no longer, he had ripped apart men for looking at him in a way he didn't like and now this little brat was getting under his skin.

"You and I need to have a little chat…don't you think?"

Peter shrugged, "Chat about what?"

"This, that you're here. Stuff like that. I know you have questions."

"Which you're just going to lie to me about…so why bother asking". There was a moment of grit in the boy's voice, which Yondu actually liked, showed the boy had some spirit in him, even though he was pissed at the question.

"What do you mean…lie to you? I've never lied to you about anything."

The defiance on Peter's voice as he raised his head "You've lied to me about everything…you didn't even tell me that I had died in the Med Bay…why didn't you tell me the truth."

Yondu opened his mouth, but shut it again quickly; damn the little sod was right, as a good few minute's silence he found the words to say as he nursed his bottle.

"Because I felt like shit and because you're a member of my crew."

Peter almost laughed, "Like hell am I a member of your crew, like hell am I a Ravager. I'm just a kid you're stuck with, and you won't even tell me why."

Yondu finished the bottle and immediately cracked open another as a thought occurred to him.

"Alright how about this, you and I one question each, back and forth no lies just the truth…and I swear on the Ravager code".

"Which one? There are loads I've heard". Retorted Peter, clearly thinking Yondu was bullshitting.

"It's the one that say's your Captain, doesn't lie you little shit, so why don't I go first.

"Do you remember the fourth one yet."

Peter shook his head clearly hating the question but answered back with one of his own.

"Are you going to kill them all?"

"Yes, I am" Yondu stated directly, "The moment I can, I'm going to do it."

"Good"

Yondu wasn't exactly surprised by this as the new edge in the kid's voice appeared.

"Well, I was planning on doing it anyway, but your permission is nice." Answered back Yondu, sarcastically as he took another swig of beer.

Peter thought for a few seconds and pulled his knees up to his chest as if it was a barrier between the two before nodding. "Ok…where were you taking me when you kidnapped me?"

"To a planet called Xander, there you would have been taken to…I have no idea after that". Ok, that was a lie, and at least Peter knew jack about the Planets to know that they were not even in that quadrant. As Peter decided to ask the one question Yondu had been avoiding for six months "Why was I really taken?"


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Why was I taken?" Peter repeated as Yondu froze and for a second was pleased the kid was still having issues with his vision, as his brain thought for something to say, and what came next was a blatant lie, but he hoped the kid brought it.

"From what I know, someone out there wanted a Terran…you fitted the description, eight-year-old, blonde hair, green eyes. Right time, right place" Yondu shrugged trying to be nonchalant about it.

"So someone ordered me like I was a pizza." Peter was stunned by this news, and tried to digest the information, silently

"That's pretty much it" Claimed Yondu, who had no idea what a pizza was "Why…what did you think it was?"

Peter was hesitant in his voice "I kinda thought you were taking me to my father".

Oh shit, was the thought in Yondu's head. "Why the hell did you think something like that?" was the answer that came out of his mouth.

Peter shrugged, "It's something my mom said…she said my dad was an Angel".

"Was your mom sick at the time she said that?" Yondu said quickly as the boy nodded. "Then that's it, she was just sick." He remembered the orders to get the boy from the hospital the moment Meredith died, and kill anyone if necessary, the moment the boy ran out of the hospital. Yondu had almost cheered at how easy the extraction was.

"So my father's not an alien." Yondu couldn't tell if the boy was pleased or disappointed.

"I have no idea who your father is (another lie), and why the hell would you think I'd take you to him."

Peter just shrugged again trying to process the new information.

"Am I ever going to go back to Earth?" Peter softly asked.

"No." The answer was direct, it needed to be. Perhaps he would go back himself if he wanted to in the future. As Yondu continued "Do you want to go back?" this was the moment Yondu expected the boy to break down crying, to beg to go back. Instead, the Peter just shook his head. "Not really"

The answer surprised Yondu "Why not?".

Peter looked away for a few seconds, trying to think of something to say

"With your species, when someone's parent dies…what do you do to the children?"

The boy didn't realize how close to the bone that question was for the Centaurian, how he never really entertained thoughts of his home planet…then again he did promise the boy honesty, even if that honesty was slightly screwed.

"Clan, friends…there's always someone"

Peter digested the information and said in a hollow voice. "When my mom was dying, when they told me she was dying. I knew no one wanted me. My grandpa bitched that my dad was a deadbeat; my aunts told me they didn't know if they could afford another mouth to feed. At school everyone called my mom a whore, I was unwanted, and they still hadn't figured out where I should go, when she died…that's why I ran away. Because I didn't want to go back with them. I heard them argue about me too much…and then you fixed that problem for me".

"Shit, kid." Yondu digested this fact about Peter. And then he had dragged him onto the ship…no wonder Peter was so quiet, as Peter cleared his throat to change the subject.

"Are you going to sell me into slavery?"

Yondu openly choked at the question. "When the hell did that come from?"

"I thought, that might be it, eventually you were going to sell me into slavery because I'm a Terran. When I was sick, I was "damaged goods" so you had to get me better". The question was so innocent, yet so serious, Yondu couldn't resist a smile.

"No Peter, I'm not going to sell you into slavery."

"So why did you keep me? Was I going to become a slave somewhere?"

Yondu took another gulp of his drink and mused over the question for a minute. The question was closer to the bone than he would have liked. In the two months Peter was abroad the ship, Yondu had begun to ask the same question, coming to the conclusion that life with that asshole of a father of his, would be a type of hell. Especially since the boy was a hybrid, something he was still ignorant about.

"There's a possibility, you would have been a slave, or object or sex toy. In the end, I decided to make you part of my crew."

Peter scoffed at this news "Do members of your crew almost die; no do die from brain viruses or malnutrition? They told me what that was…I was starving to death. Does your crew get slapped around daily? You kept me here, and then ignored me and suddenly you care! Forgive me, if I'm a little bit creeped out by all this!"

Yondu's looked at the boy's face though this entire exchange, and actually saw the weak little boy he once was, was gone for good. Six months ago, he would have never spoken like that."

And, that's your fault, his conscience sang into his head, as the Peter continued.

"I wanted to die, by the way, every time they beat me, every time I was kicked and punched. I hoped that this would be the one that would kill me. I even went to the airlock and tried to open it so I could die".

"So what stopped you from opening it"? Yondu leaned forward in his seat.

"Because I didn't know how to open it" was the boy's flat response, as he went silent for a few seconds before saying.

"Do you hate me, Yondu?" Peter asked, suddenly regressing to his normal age.

"No, I don't…do you hate me."

This turn it was Peter's turn to laugh, I've spent six months either being scared or just hating you, and now…"

"Now what?"

"I guess now I don't…I can't hate you. You saved my life, you took me to a healer, you even brought me clothes and nice things, and food I can eat, I've starving for six months and now I can eat real food. According to the Ravager code…or one of them, I owe you don't I?"

God where did this kid get his information from, did he think there was a handbook out there?

"No Peter, consider us even, and you're not a Ravager yet. You are going to be one, that's certain…but you need training and that will take years."

Peter seemed surprised at this news. "So when can I call myself a Ravager".

Yondu shrugged, "Your first mission, your first kill and your first solo flight". Yondu eventually decided all things that would take years. That would give him time to work on the boy, turn him into something tougher. The boy had the spark but needed a hell of a lot more training, training that would take years.

"So I'm going to learn to fly?" there was hope in Peter's voice, as Yondu cracked opened another beer.

"Yeah sure, of course, you are…eventually"

"You're going to teach me, how to fly."

"Of course I'll teach you." Oh shit, the voice in his head rung out. He had meant say, someone random crew, even Kraglin, as perhaps the first small look of happiness run on the boy's face. "You're going to teach me how to fly."

"Ok fine, I promise I'll teach you how to fly…but not until you're fourteen and you have to learn how to fix one first…I'll give you a few shifts in the maintenance hangar each week. How about that?"

"Really, thanks Yondu." The kid was smiling now, something Yondu returned, hell if he started now, he'll be an ace pilot by his first flight.

"Yondu." Peter's voice grew serious. "How long do I have to stay in this cell? Until I'm better or until you kill the bastards". The fact that Peter was begging to swear casually, like a member of the crew, was beginning to bother Yondu slightly. He'd have to stop that later, as he took another swig of his drink, and pretended to think about it. "When do Terran's become adults?"

Peter shrugged, "We can drink alcohol when were twenty-one".

"What" Yondu barked "Twenty-one, that's just messed up…look kid, the rooms your until the moment you don't want it anymore. It's yours. Consider it compensation for all the shit you've had to deal with"

"Why did you save my life?" Peter suddenly asked him,

Why, of course it was the question of the month between him and Kraglin, "Because I'm not an asshole, you were sick, and I took care of it…what more do you want me to say".

"A better answer than that." The boy was being honest unlike Yondu, which was starting to get on his nerves, as he contemplated his drink and thought screw it.

"Because I took you, so it means I'm responsible for you. I had no idea you were sick, I had no idea you were being beaten, and fine that ones on me…if you want me to say sorry, then fine I'm sorry" Yeah think of something to say now you little shit, Yondu thought as Peter contemplated the answer before opening his mouth and stating.

"Are you truly being honest with me?"

"I said I was. I'm a bastard, but much of a liar", which was a total lie, but still

"I want your word on something; tell me right now I have your word on something?" Peter sounded so small with the question, Yondu couldn't help but lean forward.

"Fine, you have my word Mr Quill."

"Can you promise me, this will never happen again?"

"No, there's always going to be someone on this ship with issues. But when it happens, you come to me and it won't happen again."

"Will you ever beat me?" Peter already an expert on this; this was a question he needed to know

"I'll try not to…any of course I won't. I'm going to teach you how to survive, which will be tough, but I won't ever beat you". Yondu knew he would make good on that promise, he may be an Asshole but even he had a moral code, as screwed as it was

"Will you be like this all the time, as nice as this?"

Am I being nice? It was a strange thought for Yondu who had to be honest.

"No, I won't. In here, during your training when it's just me and you. Then fine, Out there on this ship, you will not be any more than a member of my crew. As my crew everyone is equal, though so many of them are idiots I don't know why I bother". Stated Yondu seeing the reaction on the kids face as the boy nodded.

"Ok, I can live with that." He stated as Peter begun to rub his eyes, it had been a long conversation, and he was clearly exhausted, as Yondu got to his feet. "Ok, you sleep or whatever…I'll talk to you later".

With that Peter threw him a small look and settled down in the bed, if Yondu was expecting the kid to struggle, instead he was asleep in seconds, his breath coming out evenly. Yondu couldn't help but feel slightly relieved as he picked up the tray and left the room, locking it behind him he made his way past his room and saw the door opened, with Kraglin occupying the position he had held so many times before, his arms crossed with a wry grin on his face "So you're going to teach the boy to fly? How…generous of you".

"Oh, shut it you bastard, you've got some explaining to do."


	13. Chapter 13

The opportunity came three days later. With Kraglin stuck on the ship for disobeying to Captain to the crew, to keep an eye on the boy in reality. Yondu ordered several of the crew on a simple smuggling job, on Taresh, a simple backwoods planet that didn't even exists on anyone's radar as he choose the crew including Gunnsen, Proctom, and Omevic, in a way that was casual.

Yondu who usually took missions which were more interesting than that, even though as Captain he took a cut of everyone. He had intended to claim he was getting bored in the outer rims, which was actually true, and needed to keep sharp. It was difficult to keep sharp about anything, when the mission was so routine, they encountered no trouble as all. In truth it was boring as shit, even if it was successful as Yondu announced they were all going to the bar for some drinks. A command that made everyone cheer, as hey stumbled into some dive and the drinking commenced.

Several hours later Yondu watched, every one of his men get more steadily drunk, as he drank from his own bottle, waiting for the right moment, in the end he found it as he sent a quick word to Horuz to get the men back to the Eclector, minus the three in front of him. Wordlessly, and with a hint of confusion, Horuz obeyed his Captain, a quick look in those red eyes made it clear this was one order that wouldn't be disobeyed. With now the four of them, drinking together Yondu did his best to join in on their laughter, to act like he didn't give a shit. There was no word about Peter from any of them, even the most distant member of the crew had said his name over the past few weeks, even if it was to call him a "Terran Brat". 

Eventually Yondu paid the bar bill and they all filed out, laughing and jostling each other as Yondu indicated for them to follow him, in which they clearly thought was a short cut back to the ship…instead of the dead end of an ally. As the three Xandarians turned to Yondu after taking a moment to stare at the brick wall, and sobered up as they saw their Captain's expression.

"You." Yondu glared his red eyes blazing, totally sober since he hadn't drunk anything alcoholic all night "You beat up that boy".

The three Xandarians all looked at each other, realising how royally screwed they were. "No, No" Proctom stuttered "We never touched him," as Gunnsen and Omevic nodded. "Yeah, that's right…we never laid a hand on him." They both chimed in which didn't convince Yondu for a second.

"You beat up that boy; you almost beat him to death. You did beat him to death. Do you have any idea how many units it cost me to save his life, to convince him that he was safe. I have spent weeks playing nursemaid to that little shit, when he should be doing his job" Yondu stated, not bothering to raise his voice. "Why did you beat him?

It was a simple question, and all of them stumbled to find the right answer, eventually coming to the conclusion. "We thought it was fun…to see him lie there crying, like a little wimp." Supplied Omevic, which did nothing to quash Yondu's mood.

"And then you told him, you were acting on my orders…that you were beating him on my demands, telling him I wanted him to be tender." Sarcasm was dripping from Yondu's voice at the end of that sentence.

"We were joking, we always were joking…we never meant the boy any real harm". There was a note of desperation appearing in their voices, which Yondu liked as he smirked at all of them.

"No real harm, after all the damage you did, I should kill you where you stand…I may still do. But tell me, who is the other one?"

The three of them did their best to look confused, "What other one?" Proctom finally said.

"Peter told me there were four of you; he can only remember you three…so tell me who the hell the other one is?"

There was a moment's hesitation, and something ticked in the back of Gunnsen's eyes, and Yondu knew exactly what he was going to say. "There isn't another one, it's just the three of us…it's always been the three of us."

"Bullshit", Yondu replied, as sick of all this with a low whistle his yaka arrow burst into life, out of the choice of three he went to Gunnsen first, this one was slow and precise as the arrow exited through the back of this throat, and he fell to the ground in a shower of blood, Proctom, and Omevic just looked at their fallen comrade and at each other, their half cut minds fully realising how screwed they both were as they looked back up at Yondu.

"I said who is the other one?" Demanded Yondu once more, as once again he drew a wall of silence, his Yaka arrow turning in the air, just waiting to find the right target. "Do I have to ask again"? He stated to the pair, feeling more pissed then angry at their refusal to speak. Both of them looked at each other, their minds struggling to find a name, But Yondu already knew in advance that it was bullshit, as Proctom opened his mouth, and said the only name in the Universe, Yondu would never believe "It's Kraglin".

This was the wrong answer, and both of them knew it, as the Centaurian eyes burned with fury and he let his arrow fly in the air, cutting them both down, the entry and exit wounds in their hearts. Immediately with blood gushing out of them, their faces frozen with surprise as they fell along down dead.

Yondu quickly went through all three of their pockets, and retrieved anything of value, before stepping away from the dead bodies and back to the ship. Out of all the people on the ship, they had fingered Kraglin, which as he bought the ship to the air meant two things. The would never snitch no matter what indicating that whoever this guy was, had more power over them then the Captain…or that it really was Kraglin who was the fourth!

Kraglin was Xandarian just like the three dead bodies currently turning stiff on the planet, and he knew that even among Ravagers a lot of species tended to stick together. Yondu run his face over his hands as the Eclector came into view, and he docked his ship with ease. Stepping back onto the deck, he saw Horuz, who looked behind Yondu and noticed three people missing behind him. "Bar brawl, idiots didn't stand a chance." Yondu lied with ease, as his eye glanced down to notice the dried blood on the Yaka arrow but he said nothing, from the look on Yondu's face it was clear no one would dare question the Captain.

As he made his way back to the bridge, as he passed by Quill's room, the door opened slightly to revel the boy sitting on the floor, clearly waiting for Yondu to return. Yondu would only give him a nod, which the boy returned with a thin smile, indicating that more of his sight was returning. He intended to speak to the boy much later as he stepped back onto the bridge and Kraglin immediately slid out of the Captains chair.

"Did they tell you who the last one was?" Kraglin whispered to Yondu with no concern on his face, to which he could only reply with "Yeah, I know now who it is, I'll be dealing with him later" As Kraglin returned to his seat, Yondu leaned back and casually stretched his feet out. "Oh Kraglin, take the night off tonight, I'll deal with the boy." To which Kraglin could only shrug as both of them, and the entire ship went about their day. Crossing the decks, Yondu heard mention of his missing crewmen, but everyone knew that if they crossed Yondu they would get it. As the evening wore on, and Peter was brought his food which he ate in silence, unable to finds the words but with a look of gratitude and relief on his face as Yondu returned to the mess hall.

In the mess hall Yondu tried to keep an eye out, as he sipped his coffee for anything out of the ordinary, some reaction but he was the Captain of a bunch of talented bastards and there was nothing to place it down, hell for all he knew Peter could have imagined there was a fourth one, and from the state of his brain, even that wouldn't be surprising.

Eventually he left Horuz in charge of the bridge, and the skeleton crew arrived, and made his way back to his quarters, even though he had to wake the boy to get him moving as his boots fell on the deck, he begin to get dizzy.

Rubbing his hands over his face, he managed to get through the door before his knees gave way and his head hit the metal floor hard. Yondu knew exactly what it was, someone had spiked his drink, somewhere in the night someone had actually spiked his drink!

As the electrical impulses in his brain begun to give way and he tried to drag his body across the floor but it was fast acting, and the simple act made him exhausted. Yondu as he lost conciseness was pissed at himself, for such an idiot mistake as everything went dark, his heart begun to beat faster when he realised what was happening next.

The Xandarian hand was touched over the door, revealing the sleeping boy as a knife glinted from the light behind the figure as he stepped into the room

Peter Quill, was still in half sleep, his brain already tuned in on the times Kraglin came through the door, and his exercises begun. Peter was now sick and tired of being sick and tired all the time and was looking forward to the day when this was all over. "Kraglin." He muttered turning towards the familiar face, as a hand was clamped over his mouth, causing Peter's eyes to burst open, he tried to scream, but it was useless as the knife dipped into his face, causing blood to trickle down his face and onto the bed.

"Yondu, killed my brothers you little bastard…and now I'm going to take it out on you". The voice spat in his face. Peter immediately began to panic, to try to call it out for Yondu, to try to pry the hand off his face…but it was useless. As the figure raised the knife again this time aiming for Peter's throat.

Truly terrified, Peter immediately dropped his hand and fumbled under the covers, hoping the figure wouldn't notice, from the glint in his eyes he was only focusing on Peter, as the boy's tense fingers found the blaster he had been building as he took aim and fired.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The figure was pushed back by the force of the blaster, and Peter followed due to his tight grip on him, until both of them spilled out of Peters room and onto the main deck the blood still running off his cheek. Due to the stronger light Peter now could see more of the man, his blade still glinting as he turned "You." He breathed as in his brain, he was suddenly putting it all together…the mysterious face he could never see until now.

The Xandarian cocked his head and stared down at the terrified boy. "Now you remember me, well that's just perfect." He said with a smirk on his face, as he twisted the knife that was still dripping with Peter's blood in his hand. As he kicked Peter in the stomach across the deck, Peter managed to look up through the pain as without a word he dived for the boy, as a second later, was suddenly strewn across the deck as Peter looked up into the face of Yondu Odanta and almost wept with relief.

Yondu still feeling the effects of the poison, was awoken the moment he heard the muffled sounds from Peter through the vent, he knew his boy was in danger and had to act quickly, even if his head hurt like a bitch. He couldn't believe his eyes, when he had dragged his ass from his quarters and saw the one face, he could never have imagined.

"Yarovesky" Yondu demanded staring at his Bridge crew as the Xandarian got to his feet, "Why the hell did you do this?" Yondu gave Yarovesky time to get to his feet, still clutching the blade in his hand as both Ravagers began almost instinctively to circle each other, as Peter suddenly realized that almost next to him was Kraglin lying flat on the deck, a bruise appearing on the back of his head where he had been punched into unconsciousness. His hand outstretched, from when it wad forced to open the door. Peter immediately dragged his body over and began to shake the man, desperate for him to wake up and to get some distance between Yondu and the one who had been beating him.

"Why did you beat this boy?" Yondu demanded once more, as Yarovesky made a swing at him, which he blocked easily with one hand. "Tell me." He practically yelled, as Yarovesky tried to swing his blade at the Centaurian who inched back before he could cut him. "Seriously…you seriously have to ask? Because that little shit was costing us a fortune and no one seemed to care, especially you Yondu". Yarovesky stated as he dived at Yondu and manage to swipe the blade across the Centaurian chest which caused small drops to stain Yondu's shirt, but Yondu didn't even notice or care, as the pair circled once more.

From where he was sitting on the ground Peter, his heart beating fast in his chest and couldn't believe what he was hearing. "All those missions, all those jobs lost because we had to go to the outer rims, because you decided to keep that bastard kid. Did you think we were stupid? Do you think that we knew you weren't protecting him that you gave up the score of a lifetime to keep him?" Yarovesky continued "We knew we couldn't kill him out right, but we could make him pay for this. Didn't the Ravager code mean anything to you? What kind of Captain puts one little bastard kid before the rest of his crew anyway?"

The expression didn't change from Yondu's face as he dived into Yarovesky and threw him to the ground. He was sick of all of this, he was sick of the lengths he had gone too, he was sick of his own crew and he was sick of showing mercy to anyone. As with his fists balled he punched into Yarovesky head, over and over again until he heard the sounds of the Yarovesky's face cracking, and his legs finally stopped moving. With his eyes staring upwards lifeless, Yondu got to his feet, wiping the blood from his hands on his coat, as he turned his attention to the boy, and his first mate who was still out of it and had missed all the action.

Peter just looked up wordlessly, as Yondu checked Kraglin's head, and declared he would be fine after a good sleep, "He's had worse hangovers" he muttered to Peter after seeing the look on the boys face as Peter got to his feet his legs trembling with sheer adrenaline he had forgotten the blood still running off his face, Yondu decided to dump Kraglin in Peter's room whilst he checked the boy out. As the three of them turned, away from the dead crewmate, suddenly there was an almighty roar behind them.

Yondu still supporting Kraglin, turned to see the flash of Yarovesky getting to his feet, as a shot fired past him and the Xandarian was blown back by the force, and was strewn across the deck, a hole in his stomach and the blood gushing over the deck. There was a moment of silence as Yondu turned back to the boy, and saw him standing tall, but shaking slightly, a look of grit in his eyes that seemed to be blazing greener than normal and Kraglin's blaster in his hand, which he had ripped from the first mate's holster on instinct.

"Guess I'm almost a Ravager now." He whispered as he dropped the blaster and put his hand against the bulkhead.

All this commotion, had finally summoned the rest of the men from the quarters and decks, and most had arrived just in time for Peter to fire the fateful shot, and none of them could say a word. The simple fact that the weak Terran had managed to kill almost in cold blood, was a revelation to all of them, as they simply stared at their Captain, who was half dragging his first mate to the main cell.

Yondu returned, a second later and picked up Kraglin's blaster and the one the boy had created and dropped, as well as Yarovesky blade still dripping with Peter's blood, before turning to his men, seeing Horuz also in the mix having come down from the bridge. "If I find anyone ever touching this boy ever again…you're going to wind up like him." He gestured to the dead Xandarian lying on the deck, "Am I clear?" There were mumbles from the crew, but no one dare disagreed with Yondu as he went over to the boy, "Come with me Peter". He gestured, before turning his head and giving the order for some to throw Yarovesky out of an airlock as even though he felt Peter would prefer to be carried, he instead walked slowly with no aid from Yondu, until the Terran stepped into Yondu's quarters and almost collapsed

Yondu perched him on the edge of the bed and pulled out a med kit as he inspected the boy's face. It was deep, but at least clean, as he cleaned it with antiseptic and pulled out a sterile sheet. "Might leave a scar, but you'll be fine." Yondu uttered as the boy seemed to get over his shakes and just stared at Yondu, who glanced down at the blade of the dead crewman, "Good dagger, consider it yours. You killed the man after all, you have a right to the spoils" as Peter just blinked back at him.

"It was Yarovesky all the time…I don't know why I didn't figure it out until now". Peter whispered, as Yondu lifted his head to the light.

"Don't worry about it, you had amnesia." Yondu replied as he checked the dressing to make sure it was covered completely. "By the way," he guested to Peter's handmade blaster "I checked for a charger, so where did you get it from?"

"Kraglin." Peter had the good grace to look a little guilty. "He saw I had fixed it, and I asked him to get me a charger…for protection." Peter shrugged, not knowing the right words, fearing he was going to get into trouble. "Well, you did a good job, firing range needs a little adjustment, but you made it work." Yondu supplied, hell he was older than Peter when he had built his first, the fact that Peter had put it all together when he was recovering his sight was impressive.

"Is it true what Yarovesky said? That you've spent six months on the outer rims, because you've ben protecting me?"

Yondu could have easily lied at this point, but as the boys green eye stared into him, he really couldn't be bothered anymore, as he nodded "Yeah, it's true. When I didn't take you to Xander for the exchange, well a few people were very pissed off. I decided to stay on the outer rims for a bit to give everyone time to cool off, not just for your safety, but for the safety of the rest of the crew. The only ones who knows about it, is me, Kraglin…and now you".

Peter let his mind process the information, as his voice came out in a whisper "So you've been protecting me all this time".

Yondu shrugged, "I wasn't about to let you be taken…nor turn you into a target on this ship. Fat lot of good that did me". He said as he shrugged his jacket off, before turning back to the boy.

"Why didn't you tell me any of this?" Asked Peter in total curiosity.

"Why, would you have still hated me?" Yondu joked.

"I would have hated you less." Was Peter's honest reply. "So what are you going to do now?"

Yondu thought for a second, if that traitor bastard Yarovesky had figured it out, then it was only a matter of time before more of the crew did, and Peter couldn't stay in his room forever. "I'll figure it out, don't you worry about it." He assured the boy, who was now rubbing his eyes trying to banish the threat of encroaching sleep. "Kraglin's in my room," he said. A note of fear in his voice as he was beginning to think he was about to head back to the bunks.

"You can stay here tonight" He told the boy, who was beginning to drift off, as he kicked his boots off and scooped up the boy before placing him in the bed, and slipping in behind him. Yondu was expecting some sort of nightmare to occur behind those closed eyes, but he noticed the boy looked content and safe, as the Centurian dropped the lights.

"Yondu." Peter murmured in half sleep "Is there a real Ravager code?"

Yondu in the dark could only roll his eyes and suppress a small chuckle "Yeah, and that code is: steal from everybody" As he could practically hear, Peter nose wrinkle up at the information. "That's it…it should be better than that, more awesome."

Yondu thought for a second, before turning back to the boy "What about "You want something, you fight for it", how does that sound?"

"It's better." Peter murmured, as totally exhausted, he drifted off to sleep, whilst Yondu even though the toxin he had ingested was still in his system, he just stared at the ceiling for a while, still totally pissed at Yarovesky's betrayal.

Casting his mind back over the past six months, Yondu tried to find the moment Yarovesky had figured it all out. Yondu thought his half snatches conversations with Kraglin had been discreet, but he had managed to pick up on all of them. Yondu also realised that unlike the other three Yarovesky spent most of his time on the bridge, an area that Peter had only been three times. The others he saw more in the day, making it easier for them to be remembered, and to a child like Peter the tall thin Xandarians must have looked alike to him, he could have easily fingered Kraglin at the start of all this and Yondu would have been none the wiser .

Yondu recalled something about Yarovesky mentioning that the three dead crew, and who cared what happened to them after Yondu had left them dead in an ally, were his "brothers". It wasn't uncommon for siblings to join, or even clan but as he reached over to his bed stand for his Pad, to pull up the crew manifest. Yondu may have been a "Space Pirate Captain", as Quill had dubbed him, but he had to be efficient at paperwork, as he pulled up the details of the four who had beaten Peter.


	15. Chapter 15

Here is it is the final chapter. Thank you everyone whose read, given me kudos and and encouraged this story. I love you all xxx

Chapter 15

As the light illuminated across the bed, Peter scrunched up his face and turned to bury himself into Yondu's chest, who out of habit begun to run his fingers through the boy's hair. Looking up the information, when it was written down it became understandable. They were all slaves, all grew up on a Darkel ship until they were liberated and all joined the crew at about the same time, so no wonder they thought of themselves as "brothers" .

Yondu listed them as dead, which immediately released their next of kin details. A lot of his crew had an account on the ship, and the moment of their deaths would release their life fortunes to whoever, be it another crew member of someone at home, which in itself was rare. Combined Yondu could see it was a lot, more than what he had spent on the boy, as with a small smile began to divert it into his own account, then stopped and thought of Kraglin and the boy sleeping next to him and cut into thirds, with some compensation to his first mate and the rest to the boy. He deserved it for the amount of shit he had taken from the bastards, as placing the pad down and with his ship secure. Yondu went to sleep, with the boy sleeping evenly next to him.

Kraglin Obfonteri was woken several hours later, with the worst headache he felt in ages by the boy who had the biggest grin on his face, as Peter begun to fill Kraglin in on what he had missed out on, that the blaster had worked and now he was safe. As Kraglin got to his feet, from the look in Yondu's eyes he knew he couldn't sleep it off.

With Peter settled back down in his bed, but looking too energised to actually do that much resting that day, as the pair walked to the bridge, with Yondu filling him in on what he had missed out on.

"I was almost at the door, when some bastard punched me from behind" Kraglin explained "I wanted to say good night to the boy…I can't believe it was Yarovesky. He must have heard me talking to you yesterday, and thought he would make his move. Total bastard, thank god that blaster worked".

Since he had done it with no permission from Yondu who knew that Peter could have really well killed himself if that blaster wasn't perfect, all Yondu could raise his eyebrows as the pair arrived on the bridge, noticing that everyone was unusually silent after the events of the night before.

"I think there wondering when we can go back to main space…Any ideas when? End of the day, you may have given the order, but Peter's still a target even if you ordered otherwise".

Yondu could only nod as he slid into his chair and begin to search through the stars, trying to find something of value in this shit hole part of space.

It was two more days, before Peter took his first steps from the bunk, acting on orders from Yondu, he was on light duties, and the moment he felt tired, that was it and it was back to bed. The only thing he really did however was put him in the mess hall so the little shit could finally learn to cook his own food, Yondu making it clear that he couldn't waste any of it. As he stirred the pots, trying to make something with a memory of what he used to eat on Earth, he noticed the nods of respect the crew were giving him, even if no one would ask him directly or even Yondu what had happened. It was a strange way to feel part of the crew, but Peter didn't complain his eyes and bones more adapt to living in space.

Peter however was still quiet, and didn't engage with the crew that much, but out of the corner of his eyes, Yondu could see the boy's mind absorbing everything, and trying to know more without being obvious, which only confirmed Yondu's decision to train him to be a Ravager as Yondu begun to give him homework and a few shifts in the ship hanger each week.

At first Peter was just given the grunt work, but eventually everyone got used to his presence and begun to teach him how the engines worked, how to adjust the hyperdrive in deep space and as Yondu walked past the hanger saw the boy deep in concentration, trying to use the tools to fix an engine, and couldn't help but feel a stab of pride in his boy…before blinking. His boy, where the bloody hell did that come from?

It was a few weeks later, with Peter had finally visited a planet, and taken his first trip on an M-Ship whilst awake and to make up for the first attempt had been bouncing in his chair the entire trip, even though he was ordered not to leave the docking bay. As Peter assisted Kraglin in ensuring their supplies were correct, Horuz came over to him, with perhaps the scrawniest kid he had ever seen, aged about nineteen, he was clearly a hybrid Kree Xandarain, his face too light pink to really fit in both societies.

"Boy here wants to be a Ravanger". Horuz claimed as the rest of the crew all looked at each other as Yondu dropped his pad and scanned his eyes over the boy. "Oh, really…what are your skills, can you fight…can you pilot?" The boy shook his head, " None of those, but I'm a quick learner and I can fix anything you have, blasters, engines…I can also hack every computer in the Universe".

Yondu scoffed to the baby-faced teenager as he caught the eye of Quill sitting on a box just looking at the pair, and nodding to Yondu before turning back, as he thought what the hell. "Ok, you're not a fighter, those hands have never seen combat. You say you're good at fixing things, that good…I have an opening for Bridge crew; pay will not be as much because you're new. You are aware that you might not be home for a while we're not often found on the outer rims? Still want to be a Ravager kid?" The boy just grimed as if all his dreams had come true as Peter and Kraglin just shared a look as the teen introduced himself as "Alezduran".

This guy was so green, they were both taking bets at how long until he was corrupted, as with Yondu's orders he raced onto the M-Ship. In the hour it took to get back to the Eclector, Alezduran looked happy as Peter ordered him out of his seat before the boy could get comfortable. "So are you their mascot or something. Or perhaps a pet?" The pink skinned teen asked Peter, in all innocence, as Peter could only raise an eye at this, as Kraglin chimed in "He's a Ravager in training…And don't let his age fool you. He's already done his first kill that's how he got that knife" . Kraglin said smoothly, gesturing to the blade now fairly in its sheath that Peter never let out of his sight. This was something Alezduran was either impressed with or slightly disturbed as the Space Pirates they made their way home.

After Peter had showed him around and explained the rules of the ship, Alezduran settled into the console that Yarovesky once sat in and quickly became an expert on charting through the stars, and was often found assisting Peter with repairs. It was ten days after he had arrived, when he suddenly found himself pinned up against the bulkhead with a knife pressed to his throat and the Captain and first mate, hissing in his ear. "If you talk to anyone out this, we will kill you…do you understand?"

Alezduran found himself being dragged into Yondu's small office, and thrown into a chair as the video image of Peter lying on the med bay bed, dying only a month earlier was thrust in front of him on a screen. "You claimed you could do anything on computers, that you were an expert hacker…well we need you to manipulate this image to make it look like the boy died".

Alezduran blinked at the screen taking in the image of Yondu beating on the boy's heart to get it going again. "That's Peter…what happened to him?" He turned to Kraglin as Yondu slapped him hard on the back of his head. "No questions, you're going to change the image to look like we did nothing and the boy died…do you understand".

"If not there is an air dock with your name all over it."Kraglin threatened, with a grin as with shaking hands the boy begun to access the data and do some manipulation of his own.

It was three hours later, as Alezduran showed the image to Yondu who took it and seemed impressed but advised the hybrid to say nothing more on the subject as Kraglin took his place next to Yondu as they both looked over the image. "You come across like a right bastard don't you". Kraglin said, impressed as he watched Yondu after glaring at Peter as he coughed up the blood and looking like shit was just standing there, for a minute, a look of disinterest on his face, his arms folded as the boy flat lined and eventually Kraglin calling out the time and date of death. "This will work, he never cared about the boy in life, why should he care that he's dead?" Stated Yondu as he attached the video with a message. Boy died…meningitis. I expect compensation.

"Like you're ever going to get that". Kraglin laughed as both men ripped open their beers and drank them in a quiet triumph, as Yondu turned to the Captain "So what are you going to tell Peter?"

"The buyer lost interest, no longer wants him" . Yondu said as nonchalant as he possibly could, fully aware that this could go tits-up if his father didn't buy the images being sent to him. As Yondu went to the door of his Office, which faced the main bridge and yelled out " Set a course for main space…I'm sick of the rims. We're going home."

The End


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